Harry Potter and the Otherself
by Flikre
Summary: Harry Potter is about to enter his third year at Hogwarts when a mysterious girl falls into his life. Rating this T just to be on the safe side.
1. Chapter 1

**Harry Potter and the Otherself**

A girl stands at the edge of a cliff, below her is a swirling maelstrom of colours and lights.

With a final look at the world around her, possibly her last, she jumps off into the multicoloured vortex.

In the few seconds before she falls into the raging mass of light a brief image of a bird with brilliant rainbow coloured wings enters her mind.

For a fraction of a second, a tiny smile appears on her pale face.

* * *

"Boy! Get back here!" Bellows a large, overweight man. His face is twisted with rage, his skin a deep scarlet. He stomps up the stairs, chasing after the much smaller boy who ran to his room when the incident happened.

The 'incident' was his cousin Dudley, a smaller version of his uncle, shoulder barged him for fun. Causing him to fall into his uncle and knocking tea over on his aunts lap.

Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, rumoured to be the chosen one, was currently running in fear from his uncle Vernon. Locking the door to his room with a simple spell, Harry knew that if he had used the muggle lock, then his uncle would have simply broken the door open and then blamed Harry for the damage.

"Open this door at once! You ungrateful little brat!" Vernon snarled from the other side.

"It was an accident!" Harry pleaded, dragging his trunk in front of the door, just in case. "Dudley bumped into me and I fell on you." Harry tried to explain.

"Nonsense!" Vernon roared. "My son would never do such a thing, he's a normal boy, unlike you!"

The door started banging as Vernon tried to barge his way in.

Harry pointed his wand at the door. He was unsure about what his was going to do with it, underage magic users were forbidden to perform magic out of school, and they were certainly weren't supposed to use it in front of a muggle, or on one.

Suddenly the lights went out, plunging Harry into darkness. Apparently it wasn't just his room but the entire house, as from somewhere beneath him he heard aunt Petunia scream.

"Turn the lights back on now you little freak, or else!" Vernon threatened, still banging on the door.

"I-it wasn't me!" Harry cried out. Now he really was scared, if his uncle managed to get through the door, Harry doubted that he would survive the two weeks until school started.

Harry realised at that moment that he was not in pitch blackness as he was seconds before, at 11 o'clock at night it should be dark. He looked above him and saw a glowing disk of swirling multicoloured light, tiny crackles of lightning spread from the disk and exploded as the came into contact with the contents of Harry's room.

Strangely this was all happening in silence, the only noise coming from beyond the door.

As Harry reached up to touch the disk a black shape fell through it and landed heavily on the floor.

Harry cried out and jumped onto the bed, pointing his wand at the new addition.

 _Is this some trick? A trap from You-Know-Who?_ Harry thought.

A tiny moan came from the dark shape as it started to move, then it extended up from the floor. As the disk of colour vanished and the lights turned themselves on, Harry found himself pointing his wand at an extremely pretty, pale teenager, with very dark blue hair that was almost black. She couldn't have been more than a year or two older than he was and was clad in a long trench-coat, open at the front and lined with white. Harry blushed slightly as he saw that under that she was wearing a bikini top and a pair of tiny shorts, but the most astonishing feature was her eyes, the irises where a bright blue but had white rings within them.

Without a word she looked around the room, when she was the door, she walked over to it and threw the trunk in front of it to the other side of the room with one hand.

 _What the hell? It takes me all my strength to lift that up, even Dudley struggles to pick it up. How can she do it so easily?_ Harry wondered in amazement.

The mysterious girl was attempting to open the door, she didn't seem fazed by the loud banging or the door rattling as Vernon still tried to enter.

After a few seconds of trying she turned to Harry and pointed to him.

"Y-yes? W-what do you want?" Harry asked nervously.

The girl stayed silent and simply pointed again, this time towards the door.

"Y-you want to leave? I'm know sure that's a good idea." Harry whimpered.

The girl continued to point at the door and stared at Harry. Against his better judgement, Harry slowly raised his wand and muttered.

"Alohomora" Then he curled up on the bed and put his head down, knowing what was going to happen.

Before the girl could turn, the door burst open and uncle Vernon crashed into the room, his face was like thunder. There was a murderous gleam in his eye which quickly vanished as he saw a new face.

"Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?" Vernon shouted. "Are you one of his freak friends?" He continued, pointing at Harry who was still curled up.

The girl's face remained impassive, even though Vernon was yelling inches away from her.

"Don't ignore me you harpy! I asked you a question! Who are you?" Vernon raged.

The girl didn't respond, she simply started walking around him. As she was about to exit the room, she felt a hand on her arm, pulling her back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vernon bellowed, his face a deep crimson and multiple veins throbbing on his forehead and neck.

Without warning, the girl pulled a katana out from her coat and pointed it at Vernon's throat. The large man's face suddenly lost all colour and his eyes widened so much that they looked ready to pop out.

With a glance at Harry, who had witnessed the event and was now sitting open-mouthed, she turned and left. It wasn't until Harry heard the front door close that he pulled himself together and chased after her, leaving his uncle standing there, still wide-eyed with his mouth gaping.

* * *

It didn't take long to find the mysterious girl, she was standing just outside the border to the property, looking left and right as if unsure which way to go.

Harry walked up to her, making a note not to touch her or surprise her.

"Excuse me, but w-who are you?" He asked nervously.

Harry flinched when she turned her head to look at him, but she remained silent.

"Are you trying to go somewhere?" Harry asked, deciding on a different tack.

To his surprise he actually got a response, she nodded her head slightly, just enough to not have it mistaken for an involuntary movement.

"Where are you trying to go?" He asked, a slight feeling of excitement brewing inside him.

Still remaining silent, the girl pulled her katana out and scratched some shapes into the wooden fence that bordered off 4 Privet Drive.

Curiously Harry looked at the odd picture that she had carved out, it was in the shape of a shield. Inside were two lines, one running vertically and the other horizontally, splitting the interior of the shield into four. Each of the quarters held a squiggle, one looked like a snake, another like a bird, another could almost pass as a lion...

"Is this Hogwarts? Are you trying to get to Hogwarts?" Harry asked in disbelief.

The girl nodded furiously, never saying a word. She pointed to herself, then to Harry and finally to the crude crest on the fence.

"You want me to take you there?" Harry guessed.

He was proven correct when she nodded again.

"Yeah I can take you there." Harry grinned, but his face soon dropped as he realised. "But I can't at the moment, I'd need to contact my friends family as they usually take me." He said despondently. I could ask them to pick us up but I can't go back inside the house to get my trunk and Hedwig, my uncle will kill me. The girl nodded once and turned back towards the house.

"Hedwig's my owl!" Harry shouted as the girl entered the house.

From inside Harry heard a lot of shouting and screaming from Vernon and Petunia, they were yelling at the girl to leave, to which Harry could only assume that the girl ignored them. Within minutes she came back out carrying Hedwig in her cage and pulling Harry's trunk behind her. As soon as she reached Harry, he opened the trunk and pulled out some parchment. He quickly wrote a note on it and tied it to Hedwig's leg.

"Take this to Mr Weasley, as quick as you can, okay?" He said to Hedwig. The owl replied by hooting softly before she flew off.

"She's a clever bird, fast too, we shouldn't be waiting long." Harry said, reassuring himself more than the girl. "It's funny, everything I've gone though so far. Stopping Professor Quirrell from getting the philosophers stone, facing the Basilisk and Tom Riddle's diary, you'd think dealing with my uncle would be simple." He sighed.

The girl tilted her head in confusion.

Harry explained.

"Professor Quirrell was attempting to return Voldemort back to..." He started.

The girl's expression got sterner at the mention of Voldemort.

"You've heard of him?" Harry asked.

He was answered by a slow nod.

"Is that why you're here?" Harry asked.

Again another nod.

Harry sighed, more of his life revolving around that dark wizard. _Our lives are intertwined again, seems like everything I do involves him._ A scowl darkened his face.

They sat on the kerb for a while until out of nowhere a large, blue, triple-deckered bus exploded out of nothingness, causing both of them to fall backwards in surprise. As Harry sat back up, he saw the girl was already on her feet with her katana in her hand.

A tall, gangly man with several pimples over his face peered out of the door.

"Oi, what'cha doin' down there?" He asked.

"I fell over, you surprised us." Harry stated while getting to his feet.

"Well ge'up, we've got a timetable ta keep!" The spotty man said. "C'mon, 'urry up an' get on!" He added when the two teenagers stared at him.

Harry got on the bus, dragging his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage, followed closely by the girl.

"Welcome t' tha knight bus!" The man proclaimed proudly.


	2. Chapter 2

"That was pleasant." Harry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as they got off the knight bus. He watched it explode back into the nothingness it had first appeared from.

The mysterious girl said nothing, as usual. Instead, she simply looked around at the new surroundings.

"This is the Leaky Cauldron." Harry explained. "I wonder why we were brought here?" He pondered.

His question was soon answered as a tall red-headed man came out of the building, flanked by a boy with the same flaming red hair as the man and a girl with slightly frizzy hair. They both were similar ages to Harry.

"Ron! Hermione! What are you doing here?" Harry grinned as he ran up to give them a hug.

"We came to see you." Ron answered. "After my dad got your note from Hedwig, he brought us down here with him."

"That's right Harry." The man said. "It sounded like you were having a rough time with your aunt and uncle, I thought some friendly faces might help."

"Thanks Mr Weasley." Harry said with a broad smile plastered over his face. "Oh, I almost forgot." He stated, turning to his companion. "This is the girl I told you about in my letter."

Mr Weasley held out his hand.

"I'm thankful that you got Harry out of there." He said.

The girl stared at the offered hand and then at Mr Weasley's face but didn't respond or make any movement, she just continued to look at them all warily.

"She doesn't talk, I don't even know her name." Harry told them. "That's right I never asked you your name." He said to the girl.

The girl looked around at them all, hesitating, finally she shook her head and pointed to a stone on the floor.

"Stone? That's your name?" Harry asked.

The girl shook her head.

"No Harry you fool, it's Rock. Since when has stone been a name?" Hermione said with an exasperated look on her face.

"Well Rock isn't much of a name either." Ron interjected.

"It's more of a name than Stone." Hermione argued.

Mr Weasley stepped in to prevent the argument from escalating.

"That's enough you too." He said kindly. He looked at the girl. "Is your name Rock?" He asked.

The girl nodded her head.

"But you're still not going to talk to us are you?" Ron asked.

Rock shook her head, there was only one person in the world she would speak to. The person she loved dearly.

"Lets get inside, I'm sure people will think we're up to something if we stand out here much longer." Hermione stated.

The group were all in agreement with her and walked into the Leaky Cauldron.

As Tom brought over five butterbeers, Harry was relaying the events of the past twenty minutes.

"That man is vile, he should be locked up!" Ron said angrily. "Mate, you shouldn't put up with that crap." He added

"Ron!" Hermione hissed. "I'm sure Dumbledore had a good reason to have Harry live with them."

Harry and Ron looked at each other dubiously.

"Hermione is right, Dumbledore knows what he's doing. I can't help but agree with you though Ron, he sounds like a monster." Mr Weasley said, looking at the pair. He turned to look at Harry who was wiping a butterbeer moustache from his upper lip. "I think you should stay with us until school starts again, if that's alright with you?" He asked Harry.

Harry grinned widely.

"Of course it's alright! But what about Rock?" Harry said, glancing at the girl who hadn't touched her drink but was staring at it intently.

"Well, it sounds like she's come from another dimension, I've never heard of a multicoloured portal before though. Either way she has nowhere to stay and as you've agreed to help her, I guess she's coming with us!" Mr Weasley smiled.

The group finished their drinks, Ron drank Rocks for her, and thanked Tom for staying up for them before departing. Outside, Mr Weasley held his arm out.

"Everyone hold on, we're going to apparate. I just hope Molly's still asleep." Mr Weasley sighed.

"Did you leave her a note dad?" Ron asked.

Mr Weasley's face dropped and Harry, Hermione and Ron winced. Rock stared at them blankly, holding onto Mr Weasley's sleeve and patiently waiting for whatever 'apparate' was.

With a burst of noise, Rock was suddenly pulled inside out and spun around until she was dizzy. Then she was dumped unceremoniously onto long grass. In an instant she was on her feet, holding her katana out and pointing it at Mr Weasley. Faint, pale blue sparks shot out of her left eye.

Mr Weasley gawped in amazement and fear.

"Rock! Don't hurt him!" Harry yelled as he stood between her and Mr Weasley. "He didn't mean any harm, it always feels like that, you weren't harmed." He babbled.

Rock looked down at herself, everything was where it should be, no wounds on her body at all. Slowly she lowered her katana and the sparks coming out her eye sputtered to a halt.

Mr Weasley breathed a sigh of relief and patted Harry on the shoulder.

"Thank you Harry, that could have ended badly." He paused and looked at the Burrow.

The lights were on.

"Now the real fight begins." He smiled grimly with a look of defeat on his face.

"Arthur! What the hell were you thinking, disappearing like that? And taking Ron and Hermione with you! I thought something had happened!" Mrs Weasley bellowed at Mr Weasley.

The three friends looked at each other awkwardly, Rock stood behind them, she was scanning the room, making note of everything inside it.

"Mrs Weasley, it was my fault. Something happened and I didn't know who else to contact." Harry said as he stepped forward.

"Harry, dear! How are you? You're looking thin, I think there're some leftovers if you're hungry." Mrs Weasley blurted as she embraced Harry in a bone crushing hug.

Harry smiled, he felt like he was home.

Mrs Weasley let Harry go as she spied Rock, the silent girl tilted her head as she was approached by the plump older woman.

"Who's this?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"Her name is Rock, she's... a friend of Harry's" Ron explained.

Mrs Weasley caught Ron's slight hesitation.

"Girlfriend?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry blushed.

"No, nothing like that, I've only just met her." He explained.

Mrs Weasley nodded but said nothing, she had further questions but it was late and she wanted everyone in bed.

"Off to bed with all of you, this can wait until the morning. Harry, you're sharing with Ron. Hermione, you're in with Ginny." Mrs Weasley told them. "As for you." She added, looking at Rock. "You'll have to stay on the sofa if that's alright."

Rock nodded.

"Okay then!" Mrs Weasley said loudly, shooing Harry, Hermione, Ron and Mr Weasley up the stairs. "If you need anything, just let me know."

With that, Rock was left alone as soon the noise of everyone getting ready of bed died down, with a glance up at the stairs she left the building and climbed up to the top of the building. In a few moments she was standing on top of the lopsided house looking up at the stars, she closed her eyes and recalled the memory of why she was here...

" _Black Rock Shooter." A voice said._

 _Rock looked up as a giant red eye opened in the multicoloured sky, she drew her katana and formed her rock cannon without a word._

 _"There is danger coming." The voice said from the eye. "_ _The ones we love."_

 _Rock pointed her cannon at the eye and fired, spinning chunks of stone blasted their way towards the eye. Just before they hit it, the eye closed, causing the rocks to sail harmlessly past._

 _A gash appeared in the air in front of Rock, followed almost instantly after by a giant sword, curved at the tip and serrated along the back edge. It was being held by a woman with red horns coming out of her head._

 _Black Gold Saw._

 _Rock crouched and prepared to lunge when she was stopped by another voice._

 _"Black Rock Shooter" This voice was softer, silkier._

 _Rock turned to see a giant dolls head hurtling towards her, it was being propelled by arachnid legs and two large wheels._

 _Chariot riding top Mary._

 _"Black Rock Shooter" Yet another voice said, quieter, almost a whisper._

 _Rock faced the new voice and saw a vast army of the dead marching forwards in lock-step, two huge skulls floating above the army and standing on one was a girl with green horns and matching glasses._

 _Dead Master with Ebony, Ivory and her legions._

 _"Black Rock Shooter"_ _Nervousness with a hint of excitement._

 _Rock looked towards the new voice,_

 _There, walking towards her was a small girl with white hair peaking out from underneath her hood, and two massive metal hands._

 _Strength._

 _It was this last girl who spoke._

 _"Black Rock Shooter, the ones we care for, the ones we fight and die for are in danger." Strength said calmly._

 _Rock stared at her, never easing her grip on her katana._

 _"A great evil is building in the other world, we've all felt it, even you," Strength stated. "If we don't intervene, then everyone we care for could be lost. Yuu, Saya, Yomi, Kagari." She paused. "Mato."_

 _Blue flames started burning on Rock's left eye._

 _"We need to send you to that other world to find a place called 'Hogwarts', apparently something, or someone can stop this evil called 'Voldemort'." Strength explained. "You need to go as you look nearly human, none of us would be able to get this done as quickly." She added._

 _Rock sheathed her katana and the rock cannon dissipated into blue specks._

 _"Once you get to this 'Hogwarts', let us know and we will enter that world as well." Strength told Rock. "Will you go?" She asked._

" _..."_

Rock lay on the roof watching the stars pass slowly overhead, and as dawn broke she heard commotion coming from beneath her inside the oddly shape house. Apparently they were wondering where she was.

Without a word she stood up and walked to the edge of the roof, someone inside must have seen her shadow, as soon they all rushed outside.

Just in time to see her jump from the roof and land safely and neatly in front of them. Everyone stared at her in amazement.

"That was awesome!" Two redhead boys said in union, they looked identical, same facial features, same height and build.

One of the twins walked up to her.

"Hiya, I'm Fred and that ugly mug over there is George." Fred said

"And who are you?" George asked for his twin as he approached.

"She doesn't talk." Hermione said from behind them. "But we've found out her name is Rock." She told them.

Rock..." George said.

"Cool name." Continued Fred.

"Alright, we can talk about this over breakfast." Interrupted Mrs Weasley.

Everyone sensed the finality of her words and headed inside to eat.


	3. Chapter 3

With everyone sitting down for breakfast, the only topic of conversation was Rock. Harry, Hermione and Ron were discussing whether to inform Dumbledore of the strange girl. Fred, George and Ginny were talking about Rock's impressive landing from the roof of the tall, lopsided house. Mr and Mrs Weasley were having a very heated debate about Mr Weasley leaving the house in the middle of the night and whether the girl could be trusted.

Rock was sitting between Harry and Hermione, ignoring the talking that was taking place and instead contemplating what could be so evil as to threaten everyone in the world. No one had that power, not even Dead Master with her legions or Black Gold Saw with her ability to create Cloaked Ones.

And yet, somewhere in this world there lay a danger greater than those two. A danger that apparently could be stopped by travelling to a place called 'Hogwarts'. If such a power was contained there then why hasn't already been used? If she and the others could sense this evil then surely the denizens of this world could as well?

"What do you think Rock?" Hermione asked.

Rock turned her head and looked at the bushy haired girl, she shook her head slightly at Hermione.

"Should we see Dumbledore and tell him about you?" Hermione clarified.

"Hermione, she's from another world, remember? She doesn't know who Dumbledore is." Harry reminded her.

"Right." Hermione sighed in defeat. "I suppose that as we're all together we could go to Diagon Alley and pick up what we need for this year." She suggested.

"And use the time to explain how this world works to Rock." Harry said, catching on to Hermione's thinking.

"Sounds like a plan." Ron agreed smiling broadly.

Despite Rock's unusual method of arriving in Harry's room, no one was actually sure if Rock was magical. She certainly was capable of seeing things that a muggle couldn't as she was surprised by the knight bus, but whether she could perform magic like witches and wizards, or was magical in nature like centaurs none could say for sure.

So the first stop for the group of four was Ollivanders, to see if Rock was capable of using a wand.

After a few hours, it started to become clear that Rock had no magical ability with a wand. It was Rock who stopped the proceedings, holding a hand up to stop Mr Ollivander as he approached with yet another wand to try.

"Just a few more." Ollivander pleaded. "There's a wand in here suitable for everyone."

"It's okay, the truth is we're not even sure if she has any magical ability." Hermione explained. "She entered our world through a portal, we thought we would try to find out if she could use a wand."

"Oh, well I guess that makes sense." Mr Ollivander said brightening up slightly. "It would have been a black mark against my name, so to speak, if I couldn't provide a wand for everyone who walks through those doors."

"Nonsense, Mr Ollivander, everyone knows you're the best." Hermione said cheerfully. "It just looks like our friend isn't magical."

With that the group left the wand shop owner and picked up the rest of their school supplies, including an interesting book called 'The Monster Book of Monsters' which proceeded to attack anyone who came near it with its vicious teeth. Strangely it left Rock alone, which made Harry, Hermione and Ron nervous, a reminder that this girl wasn't the same as them.

As they walked to meet Mrs Weasley, Harry lagged behind Ron and Hermione to be beside Rock.

"Mr Weasley sent an owl to Dumbledore, he's the headmaster of Hogwarts. I haven't forgotten when I said that I'd take you, but we have some time. Voldemort has been stopped for now." Harry reassured her.

Rock merely glanced at him, she was busy looking around the bizarre street and the people bustling around. Her senses were alert for trouble, an instinctive reaction whenever others were around. Meeting someone in her world nearly always resulted in a fight to the death, whether that was her intention or not.

"Have you four got what you need for school?" Mrs Weasley asked.

The reply that was on Ron's lips was forgotten as a loud _crack_ startled them all and a tall, elderly man with half-moon glasses and a long snowy white beard was standing amongst them.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry, Hermione and Ron cried in surprise.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he smiled at everyone.

"Hello, I'm sorry for dropping in like this." He said in a soft voice. "I received Mr Weasley's owl and came at once to see this remarkable girl."

Harry's heart was still racing from the shock as he gently guided Rock forwards towards the elderly wizard.

"It's okay, he won't hurt you, he can help." Harry whispered.

"It's okay Harry, I'm sure she can take care of herself." Dumbledore said to Harry who nodded silently. "Well now, even with all these people here, you certainly stand out in a crowd." He chuckled

Rock was not comforted, instead she gently gripped the hilt of her katana.

"There is no need for that miss, Harry was right, I'm not going to hurt you." Dumbledore said gently.

Rock still held the black blade.

"I understand that you are looking for Hogwarts and, I believe, there was something said about Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked.

Everyone except Rock and Harry shuddered and winced at the mention of that name.

Rock nodded.

"Can you tell me why you need to come to Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked.

Rock tilted her head and frowned before shaking it, Harry stepped in and explained.

"She doesn't talk Professor, we haven't heard her say a word since she arrived in my bedroom." Harry told him.

Dumbledore stepped back and thought for a moment before smiling.

"Well then my dear, it looks like you're going to Hogwarts after all. With your permission, I'd like to take you right now." Dumbledore said as he held out his arm.

Rock nodded and took the offered arm, just before they disapparated, Rock glanced over to Harry and nodded her thanks.

Rock managed to stay on her feet this time as they landed on a balcony overlooking a wide valley, she peered over the edge and face a drop of maybe 600 meters. Off to her left and right she could see the rest of Hogwarts, a vast, ancient castle. Hundreds of windows dotted the cold stone walls, towers stretched into the air, but it didn't feel imposing. In fact Rock felt a welcoming sensation as she took in all the details of the isolated fortress.

After a few more seconds, she followed the headmaster into his office. She found him standing next to a silver bowl that was floating in mid air above a large desk.

"It's time to find out why you're here." Dumbledore said kindly. "With your permission I'd like to extract the memory of why you came here, it won't hurt and I'll only be able to see what you want to show me." He explained.

Rock took a minute to decide but ultimately nodded her agreement.

"Excellent my dear, now just focus on the memories you would be willing to show me and I'll do the rest." Dumbledore said as he held his wand to her temple.

Rock closed her eyes and recalled the meeting between herself and the others when Strength had asked her to travel to this world with no guarantee of ever going back. It was only with a sense of urging from Mato, who somehow knew about the meeting, that she decided to go.

She held back everything involving her interactions with Mato, those memories were hers and hers alone. Unfortunately for the kindly wizard extracting her memories, she didn't keep anything else to herself.

Years of nothing but pain and anguish that she had taken on for Mato, the fighting and killing of others like herself to ease their pain, while none had been able to do the same for herself. Hundreds, thousands of battles fought, all of it done with love in her heart, a deep burning love for the girl named Mato Kuroi.

So when Dumbledore viewed the memory contained within a shining silver slither of wisp-like substance, he was completely unprepared for the sensory and emotional bombardment that Rock dealt with on a daily basis.

As he removed his face from the pensieve, the kind, smiling face of the professor looked haggard. Tears were running down his face and collecting on his long beard, twinkling like stars in the light. He took an unsteady step towards Rock, his body was trembling and every movement looked like it took tremendous willpower to perform.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry. I never imagined... How do you do it?" Dumbledore said even though he knew how and why she fought, it was merely for his own benefit. "I'm sorry Black Rock Shooter."

Harry couldn't help having a sense of unease about how Dumbledore left with Rock, something told him that she was dangerous but also trustworthy. He shared similar thoughts about Dumbledore, he is the most powerful wizard alive so of course he was also dangerous, but Harry trusted in him completely.

So why this unshakable feeling of something being amiss? He put the thought to the back of his mind and enjoyed the company he was in, Hermione and Ginny were figuring out how to open the Monster Book of Monsters and failing. He, Ron, Fred and George were evicting gnomes who had taken up residence in the Weasleys garden, it was tough work. Every time they got rid of one, it would sneak back in while they weren't looking.

A sharp _crack_ signalled that someone had apparated, startling Harry and causing him to drop the gnome he was holding, who kicked him in the shin for his trouble.

With a hiss of pain he limped around the front of the house only to find Rock supporting Dumbledore in her arms, she was practically carrying the elderly wizard in her arms. While Dumbledore was shaking, his face was red and puffy from tears, a few still glistened in the afternoon sun.

Harry rushed over along with everyone else who had been in the garden at the time.

"Professor! What's wrong? What happened?" Harry blurted out in a panic. He had never seen Dumbledore in such a state, he hardly believed it was possible.

"I asked her for her memories." Dumbledore breathed. "And she showed me, she showed me _everything_. It was more than I could take, she really is an incredible woman." He smiled faintly.

"Rock? Your memories did this." Ron asked.

Rock nodded warily.

"Don't be angry at her, she has no more control over her past than you do, Mr Weasley." Dumbledore said, his voice barely a whisper. "More importantly I know why she's here." He added.

"You do?" Hermione asked, faint excitement edging her voice.

Dumbledore nodded. "And her name is Black Rock Shooter."

Everyone was sat down at the dining table in the Burrow as Dumbledore relayed what he had discovered, jaws hung open as he told them of the Otherselves and how the took upon the emotion burdens of the girls they were paired to.

"Wow, that's incredible, and scary." Hermione whispered. "To think that every bad feeling I've had has been shared by another person in another world." A tear ran down her face. "How have we never known about this before?" She asked.

"From what I could see, only a select handful of people are even vaguely aware of this, let alone know any sort of detail. And although Black Rock Shooter showed me so much, there was something that she kept back, I shudder to think of what it could be." Dumbledore replied.

"So what's the plan?" Harry asked. "You said she was here to stop Voldemort."

Everyone shuddered.

"So are we going to help her?" He continued, ignoring them.

"Black Rock Shooter has companions in the other world who are ready to assist her as soon as she signals them, however we don't know where the dark wizard is. It might be years before he resurfaces again, he took a severe blow when you stopped him getting the philosophers stone and destroyed his diary. For now I think she should stay at Hogwarts until the time comes to call her friends." Dumbledore said. "Of course if that's agreeable with you?" He added looking over to Black Rock Shooter. "I don't think the students are ready yet for legions of dead roaming the halls, or to encounter Mary down a darkened passageway." He chuckled.

Rock nodded, she wondered how these people would take seeing the others.

"Whose Mary?" Ron asked nervously.

"Well Master Weasley, if you recall your first year at Hogwarts, you ran into a certain three-headed dog." Dumbledore smiled.

"Fluffy, the Cerberus." Hermione answered for Ron.

"Well Mary makes Fluffy live up to his name." Dumbledore said, causing Ron to shudder. "She's a giant mechanical nightmare on eight legs."

Ron yelped.

"She's a spider?" He cried.

"From what I saw, she's modelled after a spider, only worse. It's hard to put into words." Dumbledore told him.

"Well it can stay there, I'd rather face You-Know-Who than that thing." Ron muttered.

"If things go badly and we need to call upon them, you may get your wish Master Weasley." Dumbledore warned him.

Ron shrank back into his chair, feeling very small.

The discussion carried on into the night, Dumbledore explained what was going to happen for the foreseeable future.

Rock would accompany Harry to Hogwarts and become a student, although with having no magical ability her classes would be limited to those where the use of magic wasn't necessarily required, such as Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions. She would also sit in with the lower years to catch up the lessons she missed.

She would live at Hogwarts during school time, only leaving to stay at the Burrow with Harry. Rock had drawn her sword when Dumbledore said that Harry would still be going back to the Dursleys for the summer, and Dumbledore had to calm everyone down to stop them from getting hurt by her. Mrs Weasley agreed without hesitation when asked if Harry could stay with them, she was only slightly more hesitant when she was told Rock would have to stay in order for her to protect Harry as he wouldn't have the magical protection that Privet Drive afforded.

With the meeting over, everyone headed for bed, leaving just Dumbledore and Rock together.

"I hope this arrangement meets with your approval, Black Rock Shooter." Dumbledore asked respectfully.

Rock nodded, it would suffice, although it wasn't ideal. She had been expecting the evil to be manifested already, she hadn't thought that she would to have to wait for it.

"One more thing before I leave." Dumbledore said.

He pulled his wand out and made small circular motions above her head, slowly her long dark blue hair drifted upwards on its own accord. Soon it was floating above her as if she was underwater.

Two small haloes of light parted the hair down the middle and bunched it into two sections, slowly the hair sank back down and settled on her head.

"Much better." Dumbledore smiled. "I don't know why, but you lost your pigtails when you jumped through the portal."

Rock felt her hair and her eyes widened slightly.

Two pigtails, one extremely long, the other fairly short now adorned her head, she hadn't realised they weren't there.

It was a welcome feeling of home and Mato.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few weeks passed quickly after Dumbledore left, Mrs Weasley soon warmed up to Rock, despite getting a cold chill every time the silent girl walked into the room. After the first few days it became apparent that there was no need to provide her with a bed to sleep in or even blankets to keep her warm, as every night after the others went to bed she would climb up to the roof and spend all night watching the stars.

Soon it was time for the teens to leave for Hogwarts for another year, Rock had been provided with a set of hand-me-down robes by the Weasleys, completely rejecting Harry's offer to buy her brand new ones.

Rock had accepted the robes with a low bow that let both parties know that she was thankful and putting to rest any fears that she might have been offended by either offer. Although any suggestion that her current clothing might not be suitable for school life was met with a stern glare.

* * *

The journey to platform 9 ¾ was thankfully less eventful than the previous year, only Rock's slight hesitation to run into what looked like a solid brick wall delayed them. But with Harry holding her as they passed through the barrier at the same time, they all made it onto the train with plenty of time to spare.

* * *

"Any idea who's going to be our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Hermione asked as they grabbed a train compartment. The only person inside was buried under a large, heavy travelling cloak and snoring loudly, they would have left but this was the only place left on the train where they would all fit. So they resigned themselves to talking a little quieter so as not to wake the person.

"How would we know?" Ron said blankly. "We've been with you most of the time."

"Yes, but not all the time. I just thought that one of you might have found something out." Hermione retorted.

"If anyone would know it would be Rock, she was the one who disappeared with Dumbledore, remember?" Harry reminded her.

They all looked over to Rock who was staring out at the window, watching the other students and their parents milling about. Every so often they noticed that her hand would twitch towards her katana that was resting across her lap, warily Harry coughed, causing Rock to turn towards him.

"Everything alright? You look tense." Harry asked.

Rock considered this for a moment before shaking her head slowly, while she was slightly uncomfortable near large groups, she was still in control of her actions. She knew this as at no point since arriving in this world had she summoned her rock cannon, not until she knew how useful it would be here.

"We were just wondering if you knew who was going to be our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Harry continued.

Again Rock shook her head, it had never come up in the conversation with the elderly wizard.

"Oh, okay." Harry setted back into his seat feeling slightly disappointed.

It was as that moment the Hogwarts Express started to depart.

* * *

"Have you heard? Someone has escaped from Azkaban!" Hermione cried as she entered the compartment, practically squealing.

"Azkaban? That's impossible, no one leaves unless the Ministry say so." Ron replied.

"Normally you would be right, but someone has, it's all in the news!" Hermione retorted.

"How the hell did we miss that?" Harry joined in.

"Well, we were a bit distracted to be fair mate." Ron answered, motioning to Rock.

"That's true, I wonder what else... Has it gotten really cold in here?" Harry said shivering.

A scream emanated from down the train and a dark shadow crept over the windows, thin lines of frost snaked their way across the door. A shadow seemed to swim in front of the door, it was in the shape of a large stooped figure with a hood covering its face. All light that touched the creature was absorbed, it was impossible to make out any defining feature. It opened the door to the compartment and raised its hand towards Harry who was closest to it.

Harry felt very cold, as though all the happiness in his life had disappeared. Before he could pass out from the mind-numbing cold and depression, he was suddenly thrown aside by Rock, who stepped over him and was now staring the creature down.

"Get down girl!" The large travel cloak shouted as the person beneath it rose to his feet, wand pointed at the shadow creature.

Rock didn't move, she stared at the dark beast with an intensity that caused Ron, who was sitting opposite Harry, to shudder and retreat from her.

The creature extended a hand towards Rock's face.

"Damn it girl! Get out of the way!" The man shouted as he attempted to push Rock aside. He was shocked when Rock shrugged him off so hard he staggered back, he was even more amazed when the creature shrank back and fled the train.

"What the hell was that?" He said to no one in particular.

"That." Said Harry as he was helped to him feet by Rock. "Was Black Rock Shooter." He grinned.

"What was _that_ thing? I felt so cold, as though..." Ron trailed off.

"As though all the happiness was sucked out of the world." Hermione finished for him.

"That was a dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. I don't know what it was doing here though." The man said, with a pause he continued. "My name's Remus Lupin, I'll be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." He said with a sad smile.

The rest of the train journey continued with little interruption to their discussion, ranging from the escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, to Rock's presence in this world and what she actually was.

"It's incredible, I've never seen anyone or anything stand up to a dementor like that and to have it have no effect on them." Remus was saying, before he stopped. "We're going to be arriving soon, I'd better get in a position to help!" He smiled, then he folded his cloak over his arm and dragging his case behind him as he left the group behind.

Not long after, Draco Malfoy made an appearance much to everyone's irritation.

"Well then Potter! I hear you've got a girlfriend! Where is she? You too ashamed to be seen together?" Malfoy sneered. Then he looked over to Rock, her bright blue eyes bored into his.

"What the hell is up with her eyes?" Malfoy hissed. "I didn't know you were into beasts as well as mudbloods Potter." He said, pouring venom into every word. Behind him, his two heavy-set companions, Crabbe and Goyle, chuckled.

"Piss off Malfoy, no one here thinks you're funny." Ron snarled.

"Careful Weasley." Malfoy said threateningly. "I'd hate for your father to lose his job at the Ministry, then you wouldn't even be able to buy flea-market clothes!"

He looked at Rock who had redirected her attention to the view outside the window.

"Hey, you filthy beast girl! How dare you ignore me!" Malfoy shouted at her.

Rock continued to stare out the window, she had just caught sight of the enormous castle that was going to be her home until July.

"I guess she just doesn't find you important enough to bother with." Ron said with a smirk to Harry. "Why didn't we ever try that?" He asked.

"Dunno." Harry answered. "But we should definitely try it out." He grinned.

"You do know that's what I've been telling you two for a while now!" Hermione added with an exasperated voice.

"Yeah but it's different actually seeing it done." Ron replied.

"I've had enough of this crap!" Malfoy cried.

The three friends turned and saw that Malfoy was standing in the doorway, wand out and pointed at Rock.

Rock looked over at Malfoy and was on her feet in a blink of an eye, the movement startled him so much that he reacted by unintentionally sending a bolt of red light straight at Rock. It hit her in the chest and blasted her through the window.

"Rock!" Harry, Hermione and Ron shouted together as they scrambled to their feet and rushed to the broken window. There was a collective sigh of relief as just below them but several meters towards the rear of the train, they saw Rock with both hands on the katana that was now jammed through the side of the train carriage.

The three of them rushed out of the compartment to get to a window closer to the dangling girl so they could pull her in, as they passed Malfoy, who was still in shock. Harry leaned over and whispered.

"If I were you Malfoy, I'd start running, when she gets back in she is going to be _pissed_!" He said as sinisterly as he could muster.

Harry allowed himself a small chucked as the three Slytherins turned and ran down the corridor.

* * *

Rock couldn't help but stare as she entered the Great Hall, it wasn't the largest space she had seen, nor the most imposing. In fact it was quite plain, but the ceiling has something else. She could clearly see that she was indoors, but just below the stonework there was some kind of mist filled with bright, twinkling stars and dark clouds lazily drifting by.

"The ceiling's enchanted, it's not real." Hermione whispered from behind her. "Everyone has the same reaction the first time they see it." She added.

Rock nodded and was about to sit down between Hermione and Ron when an elderly woman with a stern face and glasses walked over to her.

"Black Rock Shooter?" She asked in a faint Scottish accent.

Rock nodded.

"Come with me please." The witch said, she turned on her heel and marched out of the hall.

Rock followed, but kept one hand on the katana hidden underneath her robes. They continued to walk through the dizzying and confusing corridors until they got to the woman's office.

"Sit down dear." The woman told Rock.

Rock complied and watched as the woman took a seat on the opposite side of the desk.

"Now then, Miss Shooter. My name is Professor McGonagall, I'm going to be your head of house here at Hogwarts. I understand that you don't appear to have any sort of magical ability, is that right?" McGonagall asked.

Rock nodded.

"You must understand that this is a very unusual situation for us, normally persons such as you wouldn't be admitted into Hogwarts. But as you have been sent here for a greater purpose we don't have a choice, it's nothing against you personally, it's just the position this school has." McGonagall paused. "However I have heard from Professor Lupin that you faced a dementor and caused it to retreat. Do you have any idea what might have caused it to act like that?" She asked.

Rock thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"That's unfortunate, but not altogether unexpected. They are dark, evil creatures at best." McGonagall said, shaking her head sadly. "Tomorrow will be your first day here, you will be with the third years for your first two lessons. Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures, then with the first and second years for the same again. Here is your timetable." She handed Rock a small slip of paper. "Now I'll show you to Griffindor tower, where you'll be staying."

Professor McGonagall got up and beckoned Rock to follow her. After another winding trek through the castle, they eventually reached a portrait of a large woman who was attempting to break a wine glass with her voice.

"Ah hem." McGonagall coughed sternly.

"Yes?" The woman in the portrait answered.

"This is Black Rock Shooter, you will allow her entrance into the tower at all times." McGonagall ordered.

"Without a password?" The portrait asked incredulously.

"Yes, she cannot speak you see?" McGonagall explained.

"How do I know if it's her and not an imposter?" The portrait argued.

McGonagall sighed. "Take a close look at her eyes." She stated.

The painted woman did as she was told and gasped, shocked and intrigued by the bright blue eyes with pure white rings in the iris and tiny pupils.

"How? What?" The portrait began.

"That's not important, what is important is that you let her into the tower." McGonagall said. "Now would be a good time." She added.

The portrait swung open, revealing a staircase leading upwards.

"I'll leave you here, the girls dormitories are on the left, boys on the right. Get settled in, the feast will be ending soon and I'm sure you'll have a lot of questions to answer." McGonagall said with a slight smile.

Rock nodded and made her way up the stairs into the common room, she briefly looked around before heading up to the dorms.

* * *

"What do you suppose Professor McGonagall wanted with her?" Ron asked.

"Probably just wanted to explain things, Rock's a pretty unique case here." Harry replied.

The feast had ended and most of Griffindor were in the common room, nearly all of them were talking about rumours they had heard about Sirius Black and the dementors. Harry, Hermione and Ron were discussing a certain blue-eyed, blue-haired mute girl who had been whisked away before the feast.

Before long, everyone parted ways, making their way to their dorms. Hermione noticed that Rock's trunk was lying on top of a bed next to hers but the owner was nowhere to be seen, instead the nearby window was wide open. Hermione shook her head but smiled at the same time as she realised she knew exactly where Rock was.

* * *

"So you think she was on top of the castle?" Ron asked with a thick slice of toast smothered in jam stuffed into his mouth.

Hermione tried not to look disgusted as Ron sprayed crumbs everywhere.

"Yes Ron, think about it, when did she ever stay inside at night? It's almost like she doesn't like being indoors at all." Hermione said.

"Maybe seeing the stars reminds her of home?" Harry suggested. "It's not the same as us, we leave home but always go home at the end of the year. She's in a different world altogether, she's the only one of her kind here and there's a very strong possibility that she might never get back."

"You say it like that, I'm amazed she agreed to come." Hermione said sadly. "Especially when the girl she's paired to doesn't have anyone to help take on her negative emotions any more, I can't imagine how hard that must be."

"Dunno, seems pretty easy to me." Ron muttered, now filling himself with eggs.

"That's because you're as emotional as a table." Hermione glared. Ron choked slightly and Harry snorted with laughter. "It's makes sense now though, every time I have bad thoughts or feelings, if I push them away they seem to disappear. I never thought they were being pushed onto another person." She sighed.

* * *

As they entered their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, they noticed that a familiar blue-haired girl was in a discussion with Professor Lupin.

Or rather Lupin was in the discussion, Rock was nodding or shaking her head in response to his questions. He looked up as everyone started pouring into the room.

"Good morning class, I thought we'd start the school year with a practical lesson." Lupin said cheerfully. He pointed to a large wardrobe. "Does anyone know what a boggart is?" He asked.

Hermione instantly shot her hand up.

"Yes Miss Granger." Lupin said.

"A boggart is a creature that lives in dark spaces, it always appears in the form most frightening to the person it confronts, therefore no one truly knows what a boggart looks like." Hermione explained, as though reading from a textbook.

 _What do I fear?_ Rock thought to herself. _Chariot? No, Dead Master? Strength? Black Gold Saw? No, certainly none of those. Then what? Have I even felt fear?_

"Excellent Neville." Lupin said laughing, along with the entire class, at the sight of Professor Snape dressed in Neville's grandmothers clothes.

The entire class practised using the Riddikulus charm against the boggart, eventually only Rock and Harry were left.

"Miss Shooter, you don't have a wand so I'm afraid you won't be able to take part." Lupin said sadly.

Rock shook her head and stepped towards the boggart, it shifted into darker twisted version of herself. It was holding a large and cruel Insane Black Claw, curved and hooked, red blood dripped from its edge. In her right arm was the Insane Cannon Lance, its sharp tip scraping along the ground. A ring of metal was mounted on her head, half crown, half helmet, instead of Rock's knee-high boots, she had black metal boots that came up to her thighs. The class, and Lupin stepped back in shock at this sight, a few even yelped as the mirror Rock's left eye burst into long purple flames that extended up past her head.

 _I've beaten you, you are no longer part of me. I do not fear you._ Rock thought, so why was the boggart showing her this vision?

Suddenly the boggart changed into a simpler form, one that everyone in the room could understand, it was a girl with short pigtails. She looked Japanese and was wearing a school uniform with blue shoes with a white star on each side, on her wrist was a blue braided bracelet and she was holding a blue mobile phone with a charm in the shape of a bird with rainbow wings.

 _No, no this isn't real, this isn't real! No, no, no! NO!_ She screamed internally. Professor Lupin was about to intervene when Rock's left eye exploded into flame just like her twisted mirror's had, only this time the fire was blue and burned with a much higher intensity. Large angular pieces of metal formed out of nowhere and started clamping themselves around her right arm, they formed the shape of a massive cannon which she pointed at the body on the floor.

 _SHE IS NOT DEAD!_ With that she fired her Rock Cannon at full power, vaporising the boggart, the wardrobe and everything behind it. The blast threw everyone except Rock off their feet, when the dust had settled, Professor Lupin was first to his feet and hurried over to Rock.

Her Rock Cannon disintegrated and she fell to the floor eyes closed, the flame was still burning but small flecks of purple were starting to appear.

After a stunned silence from Lupin, he placed a hand upon her shoulder. She snapped her head up and the flames dissipated, she nodded once to the professor and stood up without a word.

"Alright, you're all dismissed." Lupin said to the class. "Leave us, I need to make sure Miss Shooter is okay." He waited until everyone had left before he spoke again. "Are you okay?" He asked with concern.

When she nodded, he let go a breath he didn't realise he was holding in.

"We should probably speak to the Headmaster about this." Lupin said grimly.


	5. Chapter 5

"Professor Lupin, Rock. This is unexpected, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The elderly, wizard said with a cheerful smile upon his kind face.

"There has been an accident in my class, and it has caused me to think that maybe it's not safe having Rock in the school." Professor Lupin said with a hint of sadness.

"Oh?" Said Dumbledore, peering over his half-moon glasses. "What has happened?"

"No one has been hurt, but the class was practising the Riddikulus charm on a boggart. When it was Rock's turn, I advised her that she wouldn't be able to take part. She faced the boggart anyway, and it first turned into a twisted armoured version of herself." Lupin explained.

Dumbledore's face darkened. "Insane Black Rock Shooter." He said quietly.

Rock nodded slowly, a faint scowl upon her face.

"Please continue." Dumbledore said to Lupin.

"After that it changed of its own accord to a girl lying on the floor, dead. It affected Rock badly enough for her to create a large cannon out of nowhere and obliterate everything between her and the outside of the castle, my classroom now has a lovely view of the quiddich field." Lupin finished.

"I see, Rock would you mind if I explained a few things to Professor Lupin?" Dumbledore asked.

Rock shook her head.

"Thank you, now I do believe that you are a little late for your next class, so you better run along Miss Shooter." The headmaster said cheerfully.

Rock nodded once then turned and marched out of the office, according to her timetable the next lesson was to take place in the Forbidden Forest. That was outside, making a snap decision she ran back to the classroom she had given a large window and stood at the edge of the hole. Peering down there was nothing to break her fall, it was a sheer drop down the side of the castle to the courtyard below.

Finding her way through the winding corridors would make her miss most of the lesson, even with her speed, on the other hand jumping from here would only cost her a few minutes at most. But she couldn't be sure how long it would take to heal from a fall this high, it could be seconds, minutes or even hours.

Unsheathing the Black Blade from under her robes she jumped, seconds of free-fall passed before she jammed the katana into the worn stonework. As she suspected, the blade didn't hold, it brought a small section of the wall down with her. But it had slowed her descent enough that she wouldn't leave a crater in the slabs below her.

Landing into a side roll, she was up on her feet in seconds and running towards the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

The Care of Magical Creatures class was a lot larger than before, as it had been joined by the Slytherins. Rock made her was through the group to the front where she found Harry, Hermione and Ron. The teacher for this lesson was a giant of a man with an enormous black beard, wildly unkempt hair and he was wearing a coat that looked like it had been fashioned from dozens of other coats to make it fit him.

"Ah, you mus' be teh new girl. I'm Hagrid." The huge man said to her. "Yer jus' in time."

"Did you get into trouble?" Hermione whispered to Rock.

Rock shook her head while keeping sight of Hagrid at all times.

"Don't worry about Hagrid, he looks scary but he's really nice." Hermione reassured her.

"I'd like yer all t'meet Buckbeak." Hagrid said to everyone. He was standing beside what looked like a feathered horse with wings and an eagles head. Rock stared at the creature while Hagrid explained that he was a hippogriff.

Buckbeak returned Rock's stare until it reared up and attempted to escape, only the iron grip of Hagrid stopped the hippogriff from fleeing.

"Easy boy! What's the matter." Hagrid said soothingly, stroking the creature's neck.

Buckbeak turned his head towards Rock.

"Ah, sorry there Missy, but it looks like ol' Buckbeak don't like those eyes of yers." Hagrid said apologetically.

Rock nodded and walked to the back of the group where she struggled to see anything past the taller students, she also couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying as she was being accosted by Draco Malfoy.

"So she-beast, not even other animals can stand you then?" Draco sneered.

Rock remained silent, she had given up trying to see what was going on as every time Buckbeak spotted her he would try to bolt. Instead, she started wandering a little way from the group and was inspecting everything, from lumps of moss to insects she found crawling over leaves.

"Still ignoring me I see." Draco said from behind her. "You know even mudbloods have better manners than you! At least they know they're inferior."

A cry of joy echoed above them as Buckbeak flew over the treetops with a tiny figure on his back, Rock glanced at the group of students, she could see Ron and Hermione but Harry was nowhere to be seen. Another whoop of joy came from the hippogriff and she realised that he was riding the bird-horse thing.

Rock turned back to a small beetle that was scuttling over her hand still, it was red and had three spots on it's back.

"Hey beast, aren't you going to watch your boyfriend cheat on you with another animal?" Draco snickered, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered as well.

The mute girl continued to ignore them, the ladybird had flown away and her attention was now drawn to an ants nest. It was mostly out of boredom, but she had never thought that wildlife could be interesting. It wasn't as exciting as being in her home world but it was enough to hold her attention for now.

A cheer went up as Buckbeak landed with Harry still clinging on top of him, with some help from Hagrid Harry climbed off and joined Ron and Hermione.

Rock walked over to Harry, causing the hippogriff to attempt another escape, this time without Hagrid holding him he easily bolted and took to the air. For some reason Draco was glaring at Rock but she didn't know why, nor did she care.

* * *

Rock's other classes went more smoothly, although Lupin and Hagrid had a hard time trying to get everyone to focus on the lessons as they were all staring at the third year girl who had been made to sit with them. Rumours spread that she had been kept down for being slow, others said that she was a ghost who didn't know she was dead and other rumours said that she was in love with Lupin and Hagrid.

The pigtailed girl ignored the idle chatter and tried to focus on what was being said, she ended up learning a great deal on various creatures and magic favoured by dark wizards despite the constant wittering.

As she made her way up to Griffindor tower she was confronted yet again by Draco and his cronies, they were blocking a corridor leading to the ever changing staircases. Rock turned around to seek another route when she heard a shout and felt something hit her in the back, she staggered forwards and turned to see Draco with his mouth open and Crabbe and Goyle looking confused.

Draco raised his wand and pointed it at Rock.

"Stupefy!" The platinum blonde shouted.

A red bolt of light shot out of the wand and hit Rock in the chest, pushing her back several metres.

With a wave of her robes, almost too quickly for the human eye to catch, she drew her sword and started walking towards the three boys.

Draco tried the spell again, this time joined by his cronies. The three bolts slammed into her knocking her off her feet, with a shake of her head she got to her feet and ran forward.

The boys turned and ran, but she was quicker, she caught up with Draco and slammed the hilt of her sword into the back of his head, knocking him out instantly. Then she chased after Crabbe and Goyle, grabbing them by their collars and throwing them backwards.

Rock simply watched and the pair scrambled to their feet and dragged an unconscious Malfoy behind them.

* * *

The trip to Hogsmeade was due and Rock was watching Harry talk to Professor McGonagall from the top of the clock tower, apparently whatever they were talking about didn't go in Harry's favour as his face dropped and he was left standing alone and McGonagall walked away.

As Harry walked into the castle, she jumped down and landed beside him.

"Jesus! What the hell Rock?" Harry shouted in surprise, he had got used to her lurking around on the roofs and battlements but it still surprised him when she landed so cleanly next to him. He doubted he would ever get used to it.

Rock had figured out that she could land safely without damage from the very top of the castle, it had taken a few nights of experimentation as the physics in this world were ever so slightly different to what she was used to.

As always, she didn't speak to him, instead she grabbed his collar and dragged him through the corridors.

This was the first time since they met that Harry had any alone time with the girl, and, he admitted to himself, that he would like to have more time alone with her. In his eyes she was very pretty, her pale skin and the unusual, large bright blue eyes drew him in. Her slender neck, smooth and long joined a body that was slim but had some muscular definition.

He found himself trying to catch glimpses of her long legs, they were as pale and toned as the rest of her body. For a moment he wondered if she had ever had a boyfriend, it was closely followed by another thought.

Didn't she ever get cold wearing those tiny shorts and bikini top? She wore a long coat but it was loose and Harry couldn't recall it ever being done up.

He was torn from his mental wandering when they stopped in front of a blank wall.

"What's wrong? Are you lost?" Harry asked.

Rock shook her head and closed her eyes.

Slowly the wall developed lines and creases which became deeper and more defined, eventually they formed the shape of a door. When the door changed from the pale beige of stone to the rich chocolate brown of wood, Rock stepped inside the room, dragging Harry with her.

Harry's eyes widened as he stepped into the impossible room, it was arrayed with weapons. Everything from swords to crossbows, hundreds of variations were adorning the walls and racks scattered about the enormous room.

"How did you know about this place." Harry asked in shock, he couldn't believe a room like this existed.

Rock pointed up towards the ceiling.

"Dumbledore told you about this? But why?" Harry asked, slightly taken aback.

Rock pointed at Harry.

"Me?" Harry said, stepping back. "What's this got to do with me?"

Rock walked over to one of the swords hanging on the wall and plucked it off, she swung it a few times and handed it to Harry.

"What am I meant to do with this?" Harry asked.

Rock closed her eyes and shook her head, she drew her Black Blade and motioned for Harry to attack her.

Harry hesitated, he looked at the sword he was holding. It was virtually identical to the sword of Griffindor, only this weighed more and was plain rather than having delicate detailing engraved over it.

"I'm not sure, what if I hurt you?" Harry asked.

Rock looked bored, she pointed towards the ceiling again.

"Dumbledore knows about this?" Harry translated. "He wants you to train me. But why?"

The bored expression became neutral, with the slightest hint of annoyance. She strode up to Harry and flicked him hard on his forehead.

"Oww." Harry moaned. He rubbed his head and felt the lightning bolt scar he had had for all his life.

"Voldemort." Harry muttered, his face hardening. "Alright, what first?"

* * *

Harry was sleeping on the sofa in the Griffindor common room, Rock's training session had drained him completely. He had used muscles he hadn't known existed, and strained nearly every one he did.

Loud chattering and laughter woke him up from his exhaustion induced sleep, he looked up to be greeted by the smiling faces of Ron and Hermione.

"You look like crap mate, what the hell have you been up to?" Ron chuckled.

"Training with Rock." Harry yawned.

"What training? She's not a magic user." Hermione asked slightly puzzled.

"She's teaching me to fight with a sword." Harry replied while stretching, sleeping on the sofa had given him cramp.

"Why?" Ron asked, also puzzled.

"Dunno, Rock indicated it was Dumbledore's idea." Harry answered.

"Never mind that, look at all the good stuff we got for you!" Ron grinned, upturning a bag onto Harry's lap and spilling dozens of edible treats over him. Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled out two bottles of butterbeer, which she handed to him.

"Thanks guys, you're the best." Harry beamed. "But if it's okay with you I think I'm gonna go to bed, I'm completely worn out."

Ron and Hermione nodded, they waved his off after helping to pick up all the treats which Ron had ended up dumping everywhere.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So you may have noticed that Black Rock Shooter has disrupted the timeline slightly, since she arrives just before the third book/ film starts.**

 **Harry isn't aware of the large black dog following him, he never gets attacked by the dementor on the train and never faces the boggart in Lupin's class. As a result he doesn't know the Patronus charm, also Draco never got attacked by Buckbeak so he hasn't ran off whining to his father. And on top of all that Rock interrupted the meeting with the Weasley twins, so they never got to give him the Marauder's Map, Harry never sneaked into Hogsmeade and isn't aware that Sirius is his Godfather.**

 **Not a clue where this is going to be honest, I'll keep writing until it comes to a natural end or until I get bored. Either way I will finish the story.  
**

 **Can't stand unfinished stories for no legitimate reason.**

 **Also legal stuff, don't own Harry Potter or Black Rock Shooter, they are owned by their owners who own them.**


	6. Chapter 6

Rock was in Potions class working alongside Neville Longbottom, a boy with a very forgetful nature, Professor Snape had assigned Rock to Neville as he thought Rock's cold personality and demeanour would make the boy work harder out of fear. To everyone's surprise, it seemed to work as Rock and Neville produced a near-perfect Girding Potion.

"And how much of the work did you let Miss Rock do, Longbottom?" Snape asked as he inspected their cauldron.

"She added the ingredients after I prepared them and pointed out mistakes I made." Neville said flinching.

"And she never rectified what you did?" Snape asked, glaring at the frightened student.

"N-no p-professor." Neville stammered.

"Miss Shooter!" Snape barked. "Is this true?"

Rocked calmly looked at Snape and nodded.

"Very well then." Snape muttered and continued to walk around the class.

At the end of the lesson Snape announced that Rock and Neville had produced the 'most satisfactory' potion in the room, leaving Hermione with a scowl and receiving a teasing nudge off Ron.

As the class were leaving, Snape called Rock over to him.

"Was today really all Longbottom's work?" Snape asked with genuine curiosity.

Rock nodded.

"Interesting, I know he has a flare for Herbology, I was curious to see if he could translate that into Potions. It seems I now know the answer, thank you Miss Rock." Snape said quietly.

Rock tilted her head forwards in recognition before turning to leave for her next class.

* * *

As it happened, she had a free period, Divination was supposed to be her next class. However, Professor Trelawney had a nervous breakdown at the sight of Rock, and ended up having a fit in the middle of the room. After that, Professor McGonagall had Divination removed from her timetable.

So Rock did as she always did whenever she had free time, she climbed to the nearest roof and watched the sky.

It wasn't as colourful as the sky she knew of, but she appreciated the blue nonetheless.

 _The blue of tears_ _,_ she thought as she recalled the story of The Tiny Bird and The Colors. Mato loved that book so much that Rock couldn't help but feel warm when she thought about it. In fact, it had been that story that had given Mato the strength to fight her when she had been insane. It was the only thing Rock had ever felt a pang of guilt over.

She quickly dismissed the thought. _Dangerous path._ She told herself, instead she simply stared at the sky, watching everything that was happening above her until it was time for her next class.

* * *

Inside the Room of Requirement, as Harry had found it was called, Rock was standing over him with the Black Blade pointed firmly at his throat. Harry was forced to concede defeat again, he threw his hands up and get go of his own sword.

"Am I even getting better?" Harry grumbled in frustration. The two of them had been training since the Hogsmeade visit nearly two months ago, and despite Rock intentionally slowing down to what she thought was a human level, he was barely lasting more than a few seconds.

Rock stared at him blankly as he paced back and forth.

"I mean, why do I even need to learn this stuff? I've got a wand, surely I need to get better with this first?" Harry ranted.

Rock shook her head, she then pointed at Harry's wand, then to herself.

"You want me to cast a spell on you? Why would I do that?" Harry asked in confusion.

Rock merely stared.

The silence grew too much for Harry and he caved in.

"Alright, but I don't like this." Harry muttered, he took a few steps away from Rock who did the same. "On the count of three, okay?"

Rock nodded.

"One, two..." Harry started. Rock began to stalk forwards with the katana ready to strike.

"Three!" Harry cried. "Stupefy!"

A red bolt shot from his wand and hit Rock in the shoulder, briefly stopping her in her tracks but only for less than a second. Harry looked at her with panic in his eyes as she tried to find the short sword he had left on the floor. Rock swung her blade and Harry flinched.

As Harry opened his eyes, he saw the edge of Rock's sword hovering only millimetres away. It was so close that he could feel it when he blinked, with a shuddering breath he suddenly understood.

"Sometimes, there will be opponents that magic alone can't defeat." Harry said with a shaky voice.

Rock nodded and quickly pulled the Black Blade away from his face, the sudden movement caused him to flinch again. She strode over to the middle of the room and beckoned Harry to attack her again.

Harry picked up his short sword and tucked his wand into his robes, with a newfound sense of respect for Rock, he raised his weapon and went for her.

* * *

"So how did this happen again?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

Harry sighed, he had explained this three times already. The school nurse didn't seem to want to accept the fact that the training session had been sanctioned by the headmaster.

Harry had asked Rock to move as fast as she could, out of pure curiosity. Rock had obliged, but when she had struck against Harry's sword, instead of being deflected, the steel had shattered. Rock had reacted fast enough to not end up slicing the boy in half, however the metal fragments had got lodged in his arm, chest and face. One was perilously close to his eye.

The metal had also struck Rock equally hard, but her skin wasn't human, so it withstood the impacts with ease.

"And Dumbledore really let you two do this? Two children?" Madame Pomfrey asked with suspicion.

"I am long past thinking of Mr Potter as a child any more Madame Pomfrey, and as for Miss Shooter. Well I doubt she has ever been a child." Dumbledore said from the entrance to the hospital wing.

The three of them turned to see the elderly wizard stroll up to the bed Harry was sitting on, with a chuckle he looked Rock in the eyes.

"I see the training is going well." Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Is he getting better?"

Rock nodded very slowly.

Dumbledore seemed to understand as a frown darkened his face for the briefest of moments before he brightened up again.

"Well keep up the good work Harry, Miss Shooter I'd like to speak to you in private." The wizard said. He strolled out of the hospital wing with Rock hot on his tail, as they got to the stairs they stopped.

"I know you were sent here to defeat a great evil, an evil that threatens this world and could have serious repercussions in yours. I also know that you must be getting impatient with waiting, and the truth is I wouldn't blame you. I have been spending my time trying to locate any sign of Voldemort, but I'm afraid little has shown up. The only current link is the prisoner who escaped from Azkaban." Dumbledore told Rock. He looked around before moving a little further away from the hospital wing.

"Sirius Black is Harry's godfather, he was a close friend of James Potter, Harry's father. As far as we know, Sirius has escaped the wizard prison to finish the job Voldemort failed to do all those years ago." The wizard said with a dark look upon his face.

"I know it's asking much of you, but could you see that no harm comes to Harry?" Dumbledore asked. "We have dementors surrounding Hogwarts, but I doubt their ability to find Black as he somehow managed to escape a fortress on a remote island solely populated by their kind."

Rock didn't respond.

"Well, it's something to consider, is there anything I could do for you to accept?" Dumbledore asked, he wasn't going to beg but having a being as powerful as Black Rock Shooter on their side would be a massive boon.

Rock thought for a moment and pulled out her timetable, she pointed to all the first and second year classes, looked at Dumbledore and shook her head.

"You don't want to continue with the younger years?" The headmaster deciphered. "Well, I have been hearing nothing but praise about your learning from your professors, even Professor Snape has been saying good things about you." Dumbledore chuckled. "Very well, then I shall inform them of the decision. I'm dare say Professor Sprout will be slightly more at ease with you around less, she gets worried that you might start attacking the plants again."

Rock nodded, she had wandered too close to a Venomous Tentacula plant during one of her lessons. When it grabbed her she responded by hacking the plant to pieces, earning her detention until Professor McGonagall explained who and what Rock was, and what she was doing at Hogwarts.

Ultimately, Professor Sprout accepted the explanation and reluctantly allowed Rock back into the greenhouses, on the condition that she leave her katana in a sealed box outside until the lesson was over.

She heard Harry hiss in pain from inside the hospital and ventured inside to check on her new charge.

* * *

Harry was let out after being checked over to make sure none of the metal fragments were still in him, Rock was accompanying him back to Griffindor tower when she stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

Rock put a finger to her lips, she had heard a scuffling sound coming from somewhere quite close by. She looked around and spotted something small disappear around a corner ahead of them, with a small tug of Harry's arm she took off, chasing after the small creature.

Rock had been in Hogwarts for many months and she had never seen or heard animals inside the castle before, something about it triggered a warning inside her head. As they cleared the corner, Harry squinted to try to get a better look at what Rock had seen.

"That looks like Scabbers." Harry said in surprise. "That's Ron's pet rat, I don't know how it's escaped if it is." Harry explained. "Look you follow it and try to catch it if you can, I'll go get Ron."

Rock nodded and started to run after the rodent.

It didn't take long with Rock's inhuman speed and agility, the rat attempted to escape by weaving this way and that but Rock still caught it easily. She turned and headed towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

She had just arrived when Harry emerged from the opening behind it, he was soon followed by Ron and Hermione.

"Hey, that is Scabbers!" Ron exclaimed. He took the rat from Rock, but let go when it bit him.

"What the hell?" The redhead cried. Rock tried to chase after the rat again but was blocked by Ron getting in the way.

"Well done Ron now it's got away!" Hermione hissed. "That dirty old rat could be anywhere."

"Look it's not my fault he bit me, something must be wrong with him he's never done that before!" Ron shouted back.

"That's enough!" Harry interrupted. " We'll search together, all night if we have to." He added when her saw Ron's look of despair.

Eventually, they caught a glimpse of Scabbers running outside the castle and as they chased him, he dove into a hole underneath the Whomping Willow. Everyone skidded to a halt except Rock who continued running towards the tree. She was only stopped when a thick branch swung down and sent her flying into the large wall surrounding Hogwarts

The three friends winced as Rock made an almighty _crack_ and fell to the floor, leaving a small crater of shattered stone as evidence. They rushed over to her as she got to her feet, staying outside of the range of the willow's branches.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked with concern as Rock stood up and tore off her robes.

Rock looked at Harry with a frown on her face, and held out her right arm.

Large angular sections of metal began assembling themselves out of thin air, they started clumping together around her arm until a large black cannon was created. She strode towards the sentient tree until she was clear of Harry and the others, then she braced herself as she began charging the Rock Cannon.

The blast that came from the cannon blasting the tree to kindling, awoke the entire school. It also alerted all the dementors in the area who started to head towards them.

"Rock! How could you?" Hermione cried. "That tree is really rare, nearly extinct!"

"Forget about the tree! What about Scabbers?" Ron yelled.

Rock ignored the pair and walked up to the edge of the new crater and pointed into it. The three friends joined her and looked at where she was pointing.

A hole leading to a tunnel was exposed, the Whomping Willow was directly over it. As if someone had planted it there to hide the tunnel.

Hesitantly, Harry led the way, crawling along his belly through the remaining tree roots and dirt. Ron followed, then Hermione, Rock dispelled her cannon and took the rear.

* * *

At the end of the tunnel, Harry was stopped by some planks of wood. With great effort he forced them aside and scrambled out, emerging into a dark, rundown, room constructed with wood.

"Where the hell do you suppose we are?" Ron asked as he pulled himself to his feet.

"I think." Groaned Hermione as she tumbled out of the hole. "We're in the Shrieking Shack."

Ron's face turned white.

"What's the Shrieking Shack?" Harry asked.

"It's supposed to be one of the most haunted places in Britain." Hermione said distastefully as she brushed the dirt off of her. Let's just find that rat so we can get back."

Harry and Ron nodded, and started searching the edges of the room while Hermione looked under the furniture.

"Rock? What's wrong?" Harry asked when he noticed she was standing with her katana drawn. Ron and Hermione stopped and looked at Rock.

Rock tilted her head towards the far corner of the room, in the shadows were a pair of green eyes staring at them. As the creature moved into the dim light, they saw a huge black shaggy dog snarling at them.

Quick as lightning, Rock was charging over to it, katana held out to her side ready for a killing blow, when she was knocked off balance mid stride by a sudden blast of red light and swung the sword. It narrowly missed the dog and carved a long gash into the wooden beams.

Rock glared over to the figure who had fired the spell at her.

Hermione gasped as the unknown assailant stepped into the light, Professor Lupin, their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The man they had shared a train carriage with when that first dementor had invaded the train was protecting this dog.

The large saggy dog stood up on its hind legs and morphed into a human with similar black shaggy hair and black beard with a few flecks of grey in, he also had several tattoos over his body which he covered when he pulled a large black cloak over his body.

"Sirius Black." Harry spat.

Rock had pulled the Black Blade from the wall and swung it at Sirius, Lupin reacted with the disarming spell.

"Expelliarmus!" Lupin shouted.

The katana was torn from Rock's grip and flung across the room, embedding itself in the opposite wall.

"Now will you all just stay still and listen!" Lupin cried.

The two men looked at each other, then embraced, they laughed and patted each other on the back.

"It's good to see you old friend!" Sirius laughed.

"You too." Lupin replied. "But we have unfinished business here." He said glancing over to Harry.

Sirius nodded and took a few steps towards Harry.

Before he could speak, a red flash engulfed him and him fell to the ground. Lupin spun around to confront the intruder, but was also knocked to the ground by a kick to the head from Rock.

Snape walked in, brandishing his wand, pointing it at the unconscious Sirius Black.

"What are you four doing here?" Snape asked, brushing back a few stray strands of hair that had fallen across his face.

"We came here looking for Ron's rat, it escaped and we managed to follow it to a tunnel underneath the Whomping Willow that lead here." Hermione answered hurriedly.

"And pray tell, how did you get past the willow?" Snape asked pointedly.

Hermione and Ron glanced at Rock but stayed silent.

"Rock destroyed the tree." Harry said hesitantly.

"You did what!" Snape bellowed at Rock.

Rock retrieved the Black Blade from the wall and pointed at Sirius who was beginning to move again.

"We will discuss this later, but right now an extremely dangerous fugitive has been captured." Snape said. "Wait here I will be back to deal with you four later."

With that he waved his wand above Sirius and as he began to float into the air, Snape manoeuvred him out the door of the Shrieking Shack.

"What the hell just happened?" Ron asked

Harry could only shrug and Hermione was still in shock.

Minutes passed with the four of them plus the still unconscious Lupin in the room, when it suddenly began to get very cold.


	7. Chapter 7

"Aww crap, Run!" Harry shouted.

Frost had started appearing around the tunnel mouth inside the Shrieking Shack, Harry instantly realised what it meant along with Hermione who was already pushing Ron out the door.

"What about Professor Lupin?" Hermione cried at the door, turning to see a dark shape already emerging from the tunnel. "We can't just leave him."

Harry cursed silently to himself, he knew he couldn't live with himself if he just left the man to the dementors. Luckily he didn't have to worry about it for long as Rock pushed past him, grabbed Lupin by the collar and dragged him across the shack.

The first dementor hesitated in approaching too close to Rock, but as more filtered in behind it the distance between them shrank. When Rock reached the door to the shack, she tossed the man outside and slammed the door closed.

Hermione ran up to her and pointed her wand at the lock.

"Alohomora." The bushy haired girl said with a shaky voice.

"How long will it hold them?" Ron asked nervously.

"Not long." Hermione answered after the door rattled. "We should probably try to catch up to Professor Snape."

"Rock do you think you can drag Lupin and keep up with us?" Harry asked the mute girl who was watching the door intently with the Black Blade in her hand.

Rock nodded without looking at Harry, she reached down with her free hand and grasped the collar of Lupin's tattered jacket. With a glance at Harry, she nodded once and followed the three closely after they started running.

The group had barely travelled ten metres before the entire front face of the Shrieking Shack exploded outwards, showering the five with debris. A swarm of dementors spiralled into the air before coming to a standstill and paused, floating in the air, looking down at the five people who dared to try to escape them.

"Shit! What now?" Ron cried, he had started shaking out of fear.

"I-I don't know." Harry said, his voice was nothing more than a strangled cry.

"Rock!" Hermione shouted.

The pale girl who was staring at the dementors with the slightest hint of a snarl on her face turned in Hermione's direction.

"Do you think you can hold them off, until we get to Hogwarts?" The young witch asked.

Rock looked blankly at Hermione but held out her right arm in reply and summoned the Rock Cannon, then she raised it up in the air where it began to partially dismantle itself. Three long tubes extended from the mouth of the cannon, and the barrel became shorter. A large, fat cylinder appeared to grow from the side of the weapon, filling itself with thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Finally, a sharp spike sprouted from the bottom, near the three extended barrels. Rock slammed the cannon into the ground and pointed it at the dementors. With a final glance at Hermione she nodded and waited for the dementors to approach.

"W-we s-should get out of here." Hermione stammered.

Her and Harry each grabbed one of Professor Lupin's shoulders as Ron held the man's legs, then as quickly as they could, they started shuffling back towards the castle.

The first dementor began to move forward.

Rock opened fire.

* * *

Snape whirled around as he heard the distant sound of gunfire, tiny flashes of blue periodically appeared in the air. He wrestled with the conflict inside him, let Sirius go and find out what was the cause of the gunfire, or ignore it, take Sirius back to Hogwarts to be confined and risk being the cause of five deaths.

Snape took a third option that suddenly popped into his head. He ended the spell on the notorious murderer and stupefied him again, then he used a long lasting petrification spell to keep Sirius in place. Satisfied that Black wasn't going anywhere he turned and ran back towards the Shrieking Shack.

* * *

Rock continued to fire into the swarm of dementors, the bullets were doing no damage to the dark creatures but they were successful in pushing them back. Unfortunately, there was so many of them, that inch by inch they were pressing forwards.

A large pile of spent ammunition casings were nearby Rock, almost as tall as she was and spread over several square metres. The pile continued to grow and the dementors continued to creep forwards, while Harry, Hermione, Ron and Professor Lupin weren't moving fast enough. Soon Rock would be overwhelmed, and while she knew the dementors either wouldn't or couldn't injure her, they could hurt the four humans.

She forced the cannon to fire faster and summoned an additional three barrels that assembled into a mirror image that was bolted onto the side of the Rock Cannon. Now, she had two sets either side of her requiring both hands to fire.

Soon the dark metal began to glow, first a dim scarlet, then brighter into cherry red, then brighter still into the orange spectrum.

Now Rock and the dementors were at a standstill, the increased volume of fire halted their approach however she couldn't last forever. The cannon would eventually become so hot the barrels would melt, and at that moment the creatures would continue swarming and chase down the three friends.

She needed more firepower, and there was really only one she could call on to help.

* * *

"Professor Snape!" Harry cried as he spotted the black robed wizard run towards them.

"Potter, what's going on?" Snape asked, not bothering with snide remarks.

"Dementors attacked us in the Shrieking Shack sir, Rock is currently holding them off so we can get Professor Lupin away." Harry answered with a guilty look on his face.

"You left a girl on her own to face dementors?" Snape hissed.

"They don't seem to like her sir, both times we saw them they stayed away from her." Hermione answered on behalf of Harry.

"Get back to the castle!" Snape snarled. "I'll..."

A large, multicoloured vortex appeared in the sky a few hundred metres in front of Snape. The light from the vortex and the blue flashes from Rock's double vulcan cannon, revealed nearly fifty dementors attempting to get past a wall of blue lights hurtling towards them.

Then a second wall of lights appeared, coming from nearly the same location only this one was coloured pale orange, nearly white. Along with a continuous, deafening mechanical whine.

"Continue to the castle, I'll find out what's going on." Snape said curiously.

* * *

The flame over Rock's eye sputtered out at the same time the vortex above her disappeared, she was able to dial back her rate of fire to allow the barrels on her cannon to cool slightly.

This was all thanks to a helping hand from her own world.

In fact, it was two hands.

Two enormous black metal hands, with rapid-fire cannons in each finger. All attached to a tanned white haired girl, just shorter than Rock, with orange eyes that had the same white rings on their irises.

"This is what you called me for? This duck shoot?" The newcomer asked with amusement.

Rock simply glared at her.

"Miss Shooter? What's going on here?" A voice asked from behind them.

The girl stopped firing with one hand so she could turn and look at who spoke, glancing back at the dementors now and then to make sure she was still hitting them.

"Hiya, I'm Strength, Black Rock Shooter called me to help her out. She seemed to be having trouble with these things." Strength said cheerfully.

Rock glared at her again.

"I-I'm Professor Snape." The wizard replied. "You're from the same place as this girl?" He asked.

"Jeez, he's a sharp one isn't he?" Strength said sarcastically to Rock. "Yes I am, it's known as the Otherworld." She answered. "Now if you want to talk more, I hope you've got a way of stopping these things." She turned back and started firing with both hands again.

Snape gaped as the dementors were forced back further, he had never seen physical attacks have any effect on the dark creatures before. He quickly came to his senses and stepped in between Rock and Strength, he raised his wand towards the hooded beings.

"Expecto Patronum!" Snape shouted loudly.

From the tip of his wand a bright, pale blue light emerged, forming a shield. Out of the shield came an ethereal animal shaped like a doe, it reared up in mid-air and charged towards the dementors, scattering them and forcing them to flee.

Rock and Strength stopped firing, Strength's hands ejected thousands of hot steaming shell casings and Rock's cannon wound down to a halt, then the cannon reverted back to its regular form before disappearing.

"Thanks for that." Strength said. "It was starting to get boring."

Rock nodded once.

"Erm, no problem. I suggest we return to Hogwarts, we can discuss things safely there." Snape said.

Rock and Strength both nodded.

"Lead the way." The white-haired girl said.

* * *

"What do you think happened?" Ron asked as the gunfire stopped.

"I dunno, but as we're not having our souls sucked out, I'm thinking Rock managed to drive them off." Hermione replied.

The small amount of light provided by the crescent moon was enough for Harry to see three figures appear through the darkness, one tall and two shorter. One of the shorter silhouettes appeared to be carrying something rather large.

As they came closer, Harry could see the taller figure was Professor Snape and one of the other shapes was Rock. The other shape was a mystery though, Harry was shocked to see that when the figure was revealed, it was a girl. Not only that her arms seemed to end just above the elbow and in place of her normal hands, giant mechanical fists.

"Hiya!" The mysterious girl yelled.

"Come with us." Snape said as he strode past the three friends who were carrying a still unconscious Lupin.

Strength stopped briefly to pick Lupin up in one massive hand before continuing to follow Snape.

"Err, Rock what's going on?" Harry asked the pale girl as she walked by.

Rock didn't respond and walked past.

Confused and slightly scared, the three friends followed Snape and the Otherselves back to Hogwarts.

* * *

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Rock were standing in Dumbledore's office awaiting the return of Strength and Snape who had taken Sirius and Lupin to the dungeons to be locked up until Ministry aurors could take them away.

After ten minutes of waiting the pair returned and Dumbledore spoke for the first time since they first arrived.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.

As Harry, Hermione and Ron relayed the start of the nights events, Dumbledore's face darkened. After Snape added what had transpired in the Shrieking Shack, the headmasters face started to grow redder. And when Strength introduced herself and finished off the tale, Dumbledore looked ready to explode with rage.

"How did this happen!" Dumbledore bellowed. Not at anyone in the room, but out of his frustration at the Ministry. "I should have never allowed dementors within a hundred miles of this school!" He continued to rant.

Harry, Ron and Hermione took a step back, and even Snape looked worried.

Rock looked at the elderly wizard impassively.

"We drove them away." Strength said. "Three of your students and one of your teachers are safe, you've got to look at the brighter side." She added with a smile.

"This is not the time for jokes!" Dumbledore shouted, his face contorted in anger. Forgetting that she was an extremely powerful being just like Rock was, he continued to shout at her.

"The Dark Wizard, Voldemort is in danger of returning, the dementors who should be under control of the Ministry are acting on their own. The whole wizarding world is in danger and you're telling me to cheer up!" Dumbledore shouted in Strength's face.

Dumbledore was suddenly sent flying across his office with a simple bat from one of Strength's arms, causing everyone bar Rock, to gasp and watch with their mouths gaping. Rock drew the Black Blade and summoned the Rock Cannon, she pointed the katana at Snape's throat with a slow shake of her head, and pointed the cannon at Dumbledore's prone form.

"Do not think we are unaware of the trouble you are in." Strength said quietly as the wizard staggered to his feet. "But also, do not think we will excuse any insults or abuse because of how you are feeling. We fight and kill one another to eliminate hurtful feelings and damaging emotions in others, while taking on those burdens for the ones we are paired with." Strength's tail twitched rapidly. "We know, more than anyone, what these negative emotions feel like. So do not mistake what I say for a joke."

She offered Dumbledore a huge hand, to help him get up.

"If I were Black Gold Saw, or Dead Master." Strength smiled. "You would have been dead before you landed."

Rock sheathed her katana but kept her Rock Cannon out, she glanced at Snape before placing a hand on Strength's shoulder. The smaller girl faced Rock and smiled sadly.

"Ever since I was brought back to continue helping Yuu, I've had trouble controlling all of my emotions. Do you think she's okay?" Strength asked.

Rock nodded.

"I hope you're right, being here, I can't connect with Yuu. I feel so alone." Strength continued. She became aware that everyone in the room was staring at the two of them. "Let's go." She said.

As the two Otherselves left the room, an oppressive silence filled their absence.

"You three should leave." Snape said quietly, not looking over at the three friends, instead he walked over to Dumbledore.

When Harry, Ron and Hermione had left, Snape spoke again.

"Are you okay? I've never seen you like that before." Snape asked, concern filling his voice.

"Yes Severus, I'm okay. But something about that new girl seems to fuel my emotions, I can feel the hurt and pain rolling off her like a waterfall. It's almost unbearable." Dumbledore sighed. "If you see her before I do, please offer her my apologies."


	8. Chapter 8

Strength and Rock were laying down on the roof of the Great Hall gazing up at the sky, not a word was said for several hours, it was only when the sky started changing from black to a deep dark blue that Strength spoke.

"Do you miss our home?" The tanned Otherself asked, looking at Black Rock Shooter.

Rock closed her eyes briefly then nodded. It wasn't the world she missed, but the connection to Mato, the knowledge that she would help bear her burdens no matter what. Being here had severed that link, and a part of Rock felt empty.

"Would you go back if you could?" Strength asked.

Rock shook her head without hesitation, she was here to protect Mato.

Strength smiled and turned towards the sky once more.

* * *

"Hello you three." Strength said cheerfully after terrifying Harry, Hermione and Ron by landing in front of them from the top of the astronomy tower.

"H-hello, S-Strength." Harry stammered, his gaze flitting between her huge hands and the large impact crater now in the ground.

Strength turned and looked at the hole.

"Whoops! Rock told me that the physics were different here. Guess I should have paid more attention!" The short girl said with a sheepish look on her face.

"Wait, Rock talks to you? She's been with us for months but has never said a thing." Ron stated.

"Silly, she doesn't speak like you, or me even, it's more subtle." Strength said. "None of us speak much, there's no need to. But Black Rock Shooter will only ever speak to one person in the entirety of both our worlds."

"Who?" Ron asked.

"That's personal, I will only tell if Black Rock Shooter tells me I can." Strength said darkly, all traces of humour gone from her face. "Do not ask again, certainly never ask _her_ , it will be the last thing you ever do." She warned.

Ron shrank away in terror, Harry gulped nervously and Hermione squeaked. Then as quickly as it disappeared, a smile lit up Strength's face.

"Sorry about getting all serious, it's a sensitive subject, even among ourselves. You must understand, we are creatures of instinct. We won't fight for just anyone." Strength grinned. "We love them, the ones we fight for, we love them very much."

* * *

Rock watched the group below as Strength explained why she was so different, she told how she was made to swap places with the one she was paired to. Rock noticed that Yuu's name was never mentioned.

Then she saw that blonde boy who had tried to attack her many months ago, he was pointing towards Harry while talking to a man with the same platinum blonde hair only it was long, past his shoulders.

The two blondes intruded into the discussion, Rock heard that they were asking for her.

Strength looked up to where she was standing, a questioning expression was plastered over her face.

Rock shook her head slowly, starting a fight or killing them would cause more problems than it would solve.

The tall blonde man was saying something to Harry when he paused and looked at Strength, he seemed shocked by the short girl and tried to move her away from him with a cane he was carrying.

The white-haired girl took offence to this obvious insult and snapped the cane with a simple flick of a finger, the blonde man took several steps back in fear before pulling a wand from the broken half of the cane he was still holding.

Harry and Hermione instantly rushed in front of Strength to protect her, Ron did too but was much more reluctant about it.

Strength looked up at Rock again with amusement flickering in her orange eyes, Rock shook her head again and the tanned girl's face dropped slightly but she nodded nonetheless.

She told Harry, Hermione and Ron it was okay, and reminded them that she was just like Rock. Slowly they stepped out of the way and Strength opened her arms, taunting the man to 'try his best shot' which he did with Draco urging him on.

"Stupefy!" The man cried, shooting a red bolt from his wand and into Strength's chest.

Rock realised that he looked just like Draco with his face contorted into shock, clearly he must be the boy's father. Then it clicked, his father was here because of her.

Any further thoughts were interrupted by Strength laughing and shouting out 'my turn' with a great deal of joy.

Rock peered down with interest as Strength transformed her Ogre Arms into two four-barrelled vulcan cannons, as the began to rotate, the long-haired man created some kind of barrier with his wand which he and Draco hid behind. When the barrier seemed to be at it's strongest, Strength opened fire.

The magical shield fell within seconds and the blonde pair closed their eyes preparing for the worst, instead Strength stopped firing and changed the cannons back into her Ogre Arms.

When the pair opened their eyes again, they were amazed. First that they were still alive, and second it became apparent that they were in no real danger. There were two large and very deep gouges in the stone floor either side of them, there was no variation in thickness and they were completely straight. Strength had been aiming to miss, to make them scared to teach them a lesson.

* * *

"What's going on out here?" A female voice said with a Scottish accent.

Everyone turned to see Professor McGonagall hurrying out of the Great Hall, she looked furious as she spotted Draco Malfoy and his father Lucius openly weeping and sitting in between two long trenches that looked like they had been carved by bullets.

She bit her tongue when she noticed Strength smiling at her, she couldn't afford to make her angry, from what Dumbledore had told her this one seemed to have a temper.

"Err, Professor, erm, Mr Malfoy challenged Strength to a duel." Harry said uncertainly.

"And why would he be here in the first place?" McGonagall asked.

No one knew, they shrugged or shook their heads.

McGonagall sighed and strode over to the Malfoys.

"Is there something I can do for you, Mr Malfoy?" The elderly witch asked.

Mr Malfoy sniffed and got to his feet.

"Y-yes, my son here was attacked by one of you new students. A half-breed named Rock, I want her expelled." Lucius demanded, his tone and conviction getting stronger with every word.

"Well as you know, I have no authority to just expel someone like that." McGonagall said. She turned to Harry. "Do you know where Miss Rock is?" She asked.

"Black Rock Shooter is on the astronomy tower." Strength stated.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean 'on' the astronomy tower?" The witch asked.

"On, as in on the roof." Strength clarified. To prove her statement she pointed to a tiny figure, barely visible against the clear blue sky.

"How in the world did she get up there?" McGonagall asked.

"Climbed." Strength answered.

"How is she going to get down? I take your kind doesn't fly?" McGonagall stated.

"No, but we fall just as well as you do." Strength smirked. She looked up at Rock and gestured for her to come down.

"What do you..." McGonagall trailed off as she saw the tiny figure on the astronomy tower leap off, her mouth was open in horror as she watched Rock slowly get larger as she fast approached the ground. The stone slabs trembled under the impact as Rock landed neatly in front of them.

"That's her, she's the one who attacked me." Draco shouted from behind them.

McGonagall turned to look at Draco then back to Rock.

"Is this true?" The witch asked with a stern look on her face.

Rock looked at Strength, who nodded. She could sense what the silent girl wanted to say so spoke for her.

"Rock attacked only in self defence, if she instigated it that boy wouldn't be alive." Strength said.

Rock nodded in agreement.

"That's a lie!" Draco yelled.

"Hush Draco!" Mr Malfoy said. "Why doesn't she tell us herself?" He asked.

"Rock doesn't speak." Hermione blurted out.

"I find that hard to believe, I demand for her to be tested using legillimency." Mr Malfoy demanded.

"We will do no such thing, that is not the way we do things here at Hogwarts." McGonagall said with a stern look.

"Then I shall inform the Ministry and get her forcibly expelled." Mr Malfoy threatened.

Strength glanced over to Rock who nodded.

"Mr Malfoy, expelling Black Rock Shooter from this school wouldn't affect her not being her as this is her home. She doesn't have anywhere else to go." Strength said politely.

"She is a dangerous half-breed who has no right being here, especially as I've been informed she's nothing but a squib." Mr Malfoy snarled.

Professor McGonagall, Hermione and Ron looked at him in disgust. Harry and Strength were confused, and Rock either didn't seem to notice the insult or just didn't care.

"Mr Malfoy! I will not have you stand here and insult my students like that!" McGonagall said raising her voice."

"My point still stands, as a non-magic user she has no right being here." The long-haired man stated, crossing his arms. "And if you refuse to removed her from the premises I shall inform the Ministry and have them do it." Then he added. "They both should go, they're a danger to the students and teachers here."

"If we leave, we won't be able to find what we need to defeat the great evil." Strength whispered to Rock.

Rock shook her head and pointed to Harry.

"Him? He's just a child." Strength whispered.

Rock nodded.

"Then it's even more vital we stay here." Strength said.

Rock pointed towards one of the castle towers.

"That old wizard? Do you really think he'll be able to help?" Strength asked.

Rock didn't respond, instead she simply started walking.

* * *

The two Otherselves were stopped in their journey by a large gargoyle statue.

"This wasn't here before, how do we get in?" Strength asked.

Rock raised a fist and made a knocking motion.

Strength shrugged, it was a good a suggestion as any, she walked up to the statue and gently knocked on it with one of her massive hands. After nothing happened, Strength tried again, harder.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Strength shouted. "We have something important to tell you!"

The statue slowly rose up, revealing steps leading upwards. Cautiously the pair followed them up until they emerged in the headmaster's office.

"Miss Shooter, Miss Strength, what is the problem?" Dumbledore asked from behind his desk.

"Someone named Malfoy is outside, he's trying to get Black Rock Shooter and I removed from here. We need to stay." Strength explained.

"I know, I got that information from Miss Shooter when she allowed me to view her memories." Dumbledore said. "I must also apologise for my behaviour a few days ago, I was unprepared for the influx of emotion that surrounds you."

"Thank you, but I'm not apologising for my words, if you've seen Black Rock Shooter's memories then you know each one of us would gladly bring this world to ruin to protect those we care about." Strength said.

"I am aware of this, have no doubt about that." Dumbledore reassured her. He leaned back in his chair and pressed his fingertips together. "So Lucius wants you removed, I'm guessing he's also threatened to get the Ministry involved. I'd rather avoid a confrontation with them at the moment, I don't think they'd appreciate having to face two extremely powerful beings." He smiled. "Being headmaster of Hogwarts does allow me some privileges, while they can force be to expel you, they cannot remove you by force. You are not going anywhere."

Strength grinned and Rock nodded. They exited the office and walked back out to the courtyard.

* * *

Harry and Ron were waiting for the two of them.

"What happened?" Strength asked.

"McGonagall managed to convince Malfoy to leave you alone, apparently kicking you out would create too much trouble and would affect something big that's going to happen in the next school year." Harry answered.

"What's so important about next year?" Strength asked.

"Don't know, they wouldn't tell us." Harry shrugged.

"Well we're staying, that's the important thing." Strength grinned. Rock nodded and grabbed Harry, she walked off pulling him behind her.

"Wait, what?" Strength asked.

Rock stopped, turned to the orange-eyed girl and motioned for her to follow.

Harry glanced behind him as he was yet again dragged along.

"Training." Harry muttered.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **That's it for Harry's third year at Hogwarts, and with a happy ending. Rock and Strength get to stay in school plus they helped in capturing the dangerous fugitive Sirius Black. Not only that, they discovered his co-conspirator Remus Lupin.**

 **100 points to Griffindor!**

 **Gonna take a few days break to see if I can make some sort of cover for this story, then will start on year four.**

 **I wonder how much more Rock and Strength will mess up the timeline.**

 **Harry Potter and Black Rock Shooter don't belong to me, neither does anyone else. They are owned by the people who own them.**


	9. Chapter 9

Harry awoke with a gasp, he sat bolt upright and wiped the sweat from his head with his sleeve. He'd had yet another nightmare, it was the same every night.

He was creeping up a dark set of stairs, heading towards the voices coming from above him. Ahead of him was door, slightly ajar, beyond he saw a large armchair with its back partially turned away from him, and a short man with scraggly grey hair. He had pockmarked skin and it looked like he hadn't shaved for several days. The man approached the front of the chair with fear from what sat there.

Another man also approached the front of the chair, this one had short brown hair, narrow sharp features, and a wild look of adoration in his eyes for the being that sat in the chair.

Harry couldn't make quite make out what was being said, but he recognised the cold, high voice that was talking to the two men anywhere.

 _Voldemort._

From behind him, Harry heard a hissing noise. Before he could turn a large black snake slithered past and curled its way around the chair, the snake leaned its head in and made hissing noises at Voldemort.

"Nagini informs me that the muggle owner has returned. Wormtail turn my chair so I may properly greet him." Voldemort hissed

The short man called Wormtail flinched as Voldemort addressed him, but did as he was told, fear contorting every aspect of his face.

As the chair was rotated, just before Harry could see the creature in the large armchair, Voldemort's cold voice rang out again.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort screamed.

A brilliant flash of green filled Harry's vision.

And then he would wake up. He could never go back to sleep afterwards, so he fumbled around on the night stand until her found his glasses and quietly crept outside to see Rock.

In the early morning, just before the sun had risen, Rock was always to be found sitting or lying down on the roof of the Burrow looking at the stars. She could hear Harry moan inside the house below her and peered over the edge of the roof, knowing that it wouldn't be long before he ventured outside to see her.

Rock didn't know why he came to her, she didn't particularly care about the boy. She had been asked to make sure no harm comes to him, but she had agreed only because it was believed he was the only one who could stop Voldemort. Although she didn't understand how he was supposed to do this, he was a still a child at 14, and Voldemort apparently had over sixty to seventy years of knowledge and experience over him. If this was her own world, Harry would never stand a chance. He was as weak as a Cloaked One facing one of the Otherselves.

Right on cue, Harry wandered out of the tall, lopsided house and looked up at the roof for her. Without a second thought, Rock jumped off the edge and landed right in front of him. She pointed her finger at Harry's scar.

"Yeah, it was that nightmare again." Harry confirmed. "It's happening every night now, I suppose I just have to wait until I see Dumbledore again." He sighed.

Rock nodded and tilted her head, she pulled her long coat aside to reveal the katana strapped to her belt.

"Yeah, sure, it's not like I'm going back to sleep anytime soon." Harry muttered with a small grin.

* * *

Strength arrived at the Burrow with Mr Weasley holding onto her shoulder, they had just apparated from escorting Remus Lupin to the dementor guards at Azkaban. They encountered Rock and Harry fighting outside the house with Ginny, Hermione and Ron watching them.

Rock was solely using the Black Blade, but Harry was using both a short sword and his wand. Rock, Strength and Harry were working on a technique that would play to the boy's strengths in magic while still allowing full use of the sword offensively.

As both Rock and Strength were almost immune to the basic attack spells, Harry could use these with impunity while he practised. This fight lasted nearly ten seconds before Harry was thrown onto his back, even when Rock slowed herself down to the level of a human he was still hopelessly outmatched.

Ginny was the first one to spot the returning pair.

"Dad! Strength!" The youngest redhead cried as she ran over to them.

"Ginny!" Mr Weasley and Strength said together. Ginny and her father embraced and Strength scooped both of them up and gave the pair a hug.

"Strength, can't, breathe." Ginny finally gasped.

"Oops sorry!" Strength blushed sheepishly.

Ginny and Strength had become firm friends after meeting for the first time in the Griffindor common room, she had been the first student to speak to her after Harry, Hermione and Ron introduced her to everyone.

In the ensuing weeks, Ginny would often come to visit Strength as she guarded Sirius Black. She had even started to learn how to contact her own Otherself, although Strength had warned her it probably wouldn't be possible as it's generally only under extreme emotional duress that it happens.

"So what happened with Black and Lupin?" The fiery redhead asked.

"Later, when we're all together." Her father said coldly. He strode off to the house, warmly greeting everyone but quickly becoming solemn again.

"What's wrong with him?" Ginny asked watching her father.

"He witnessed the Dementor's Kiss, it's when someone has their soul sucked out of them. Apparently even being near when it's being performed is deeply uncomfortable and unpleasant, give him a bit of time, he'll be okay soon." Strength whispered so as not to draw attention.

Ginny nodded slowly with her eyes wide as she tried to contemplate what it felt like.

"Did they both have it done?" Ginny asked.

"No, only Black. Remus Lupin has been sent to Azkaban, I don't know how long for." Strength answered.

"Wait, why was dad there in the first place? He works with muggle stuff at the Ministry." A confused Ginny asked.

"He was there to see me, he wanted to know what you were up to when you kept visiting me. He just kind of tagged along with me to explain things as I was in charge of guarding Black and Lupin." Strength explained.

"Oh." Ginny said turning her attention towards the sparring match between Rock and Harry who was on his back again. "Is he ever going to get better?" She asked.

"Don't tell anyone I said this, but he is already able enough to defend himself. It's just Rock is on another level compared to him, even when she slows herself down." Strength grinned.

"So why don't you tell him that?" Ginny wondered.

"To stop him from getting complacent, if he was told how good he is, it might cause him to become overconfident and foolhardy." Strength explained. She looked towards Rock who had disarmed Harry and was now standing over him with the Black Blade pointed at his throat.

She shook her head sadly and thought. _Just like her._

* * *

"C'mon, wake up!" Mr Weasley said loudly to Harry and Ron while they were still in bed.

Harry looked blearily around the room, eyes sore and trying to adjust to the light. He groaned loudly before remembering what day it was, then he grinned broadly and leap out of bed before shaking Ron back awake.

* * *

Rock and Strength watched as Mr Weasley hugged another man they had just met inside the wood they were walking through, the pair hung back as everyone introduced themselves.

"What do you think is going on?" Strength asked quietly.

Rock shook her head, she was just as in the dark as Strength.

"I need to tell you something." Strength said with a serious voice.

The black-haired girl gave her full attention.

"I do not believe that Remus Lupin or Sirius Black were guilty of their crimes, I remember Black trying to talk to me. He stated that he never murdered those people, it was someone call 'Peter Pettigrew'. From what I could feel, he wasn't lying, or at least he believes what he was telling me."

Rock stared at her with a faint look of alarm on her face.

"We may have caused the death of an innocent man, and caused another severe emotional trauma in Azkaban." Strength muttered sadly.

Rock shook her head, that wasn't right, Otherselves don't cause pain, they relieve others of it.

"We need to get him out, should we talk to that Dumbledore person again?" Strength asked.

Rock was about to nod when a voice called them.

"Hey Rock, Strength, were moving on, hurry up!" Ginny said, running up to them.

Strength smiled at the girl and followed her, she gave a concerned glance to Rock who was walking next to her who nodded once with a serious look on her face.

The Otherselves caught up to the group who were lying down and holding an old boot that had somehow wound up on top of a hill.

"Quickly, grab hold!" Mr Weasley said urgently.

As they did so, the boot and everyone holding it began to spin round extremely quickly. They spun through the air, gathering more and more speed until Mr Weasley told them to let go. With dubious glances all around, everyone let go and ended up falling face first into the ground. Every that was except Mr Weasley and the two newcomers, an older man about the same age as Mr Weasley and a boy not much older than Harry.

They were grinning at everyone on the ground, the newcomers faces dropped when they spotted Strength's arms. Giant fists of metal had embedded themselves into the soft ground and caused grass and mud to go flying everywhere when Strength pulled them out.

"What the..." The boy said.

"Long story Cedric, we'll explain later." Mr Weasley said quickly waving the two away with a friendly smile.

The group followed Mr Weasley through fields filled to the brim with tents of all shapes and sizes, some looked like normal tents others however were bizarre constructions with towers and chimneys. Two storey, canvas houses complete with balconies and swimming pools. They passed a field that had hundreds of grassy mounds, as they walked through in turned out that every one of the mounds were tents.

Eventually they came to a small two-person tent, which Mr Weasley proceeded to enter. He was soon followed by Fred and George, Ron, Ginny and Hermione.

Harry, Rock and Strength remained outside for a moment, swapping confused looks with each other. Harry stepped in first and grinned as he entered.

"I love magic." Harry said, his smile getting wider.

* * *

"Welcome to the 422nd Quiddich World Cup!" Said a voice from afar.

Rock and Strength immediately heard an enormous roaring cheer emanate from the distant stadium.

The two Otherselves were staring up at the stars, both of them were feeling the absence of Mato and Yuu more and more. Strength worried what might happen, not only to themselves but also to the two they are paired to.

"I'd imagine that Mato would be able to cope better, I mean she wanted to take on all her burdens for your sake." Strength said gently.

Rock turned her head to look at her.

"She cares for you almost as much as you do for her." Strength continued with a smile. "I know she accepted that she will cause pain and heartache to other people whether she means to or not, but she doesn't like it, and Yuu tells me she's thinking of becoming a school councillor like Saya when her basketball career finishes."

Rock looked back at the stars, _Mato wants to help me, she wants to help others of their pain._ She thought, and a tiny flicker of a smile crept on to her face.

* * *

Many hours after the World Cup Final, people were just starting to wind down from Ireland's close run victory. The Weasleys tent was still hosting celebrations when a loud explosion came from a few fields away. A tall pillar of fire appeared in the direction of the sound, and it was soon followed by several more, gradually coming closer and closer to the tent.

Hordes of screaming people ran past and Rock and Strength, who were sitting outside, stood up to face the new threat.

Rock summoned her Rock Cannon and drew her Black Blade.

Urgent chatter came from inside the tent.

Mr Weasley popped out and looked at the Otherselves.

"We're headed back to the portkey, do you remember how to get there?" Mr Weasley asked.

Rock nodded.

"Good." Mr Weasley said with a sigh. "You lead on and we'll follow." He added.

In a few seconds they were all running through the fields back to the portkey, thick smoke from the burning tents filled the air and there was only the sounds of distant screams.

"Morsmordre!" A voice ahead of them screamed.

A green light flew into the air and exploded, it slowly coalesced into a nebula of green stars forming a skull floating in the sky with a long snake coming from the mouth.

Rock spotted a dark shadow run across her vision, on instinct she fired the Rock Cannon, narrowly missing the figure.

Suddenly Mr Weasley shouted and everyone apart from the two Otherselves dove to the ground as a flurry of red bolts hurtled towards them. Rock and Strength staggered backwards but stayed standing, they heard a few gasps of surprise and some muttering from the darkness as they prepared to defend themselves.


	10. Chapter 10

"Don't kill anyone!" Strength hissed quietly to Rock as they stood facing away from each other, with Mr Weasley and the young wizards lying on the ground between them.

Rock leapt into action, she fired the Rock Cannon towards a small grouping of wizards, at low power the cannon wasn't fatal, it would just knock them away. Immediately after firing she bolted towards a pair of wizards to her right, she hit one with the flat edge of the Black Blade and followed through with her body, catching the other with her heel. With a quick scan of the surroundings she sped towards more of the attacking wizards.

Strength hammered her fists into the ground, causing the attackers near her to lose their footing. As they staggered to maintain their balance, she quickly swept in with open palms, knocking each wizard aside with just enough force to render them unconscious.

"Expelliarmus!" Cried a man as Strength ran towards him.

A blue flash of light hit Strength's massive hands and sent them, and her, flying several metres to the side.

Rock hit the wizard she was next to with her cannon before running and leaping over the group cowering on the floor, with no decrease in speed, she jumped and extended her foot into the man's face, breaking his jaw. She turned to see Strength running back.

"Enough!" Mr Weasley shouted, standing up.

The wizards attacking them stopped suddenly, the Otherselves also stopped but were ready to engage at any moment.

A tall grey-haired man, with a pencil moustache and wearing a severe pin-stripe suit. Walked towards the group.

"Which one of you was it?" The man demanded. "Who cast the spell."

"No one!" Mr Weasley protested.

"You've been found at the scene of the crime, do not deny it!" The other man said accusingly.

"No one here cast the Dark Mark!" Mr Weasley shouted.

"We'll soon see, grab their wands." The man ordered.

"Do what he says kids." Mr Weasley muttered.

The wizards who were left standing gathered the wands, everyone handed them over without question. When the wizards got to Rock and Strength they started demanding they give them their wands in an increasingly hostile tone.

"We don't have wands, we're not magic users." Strength explained.

"It's true sir, they are magical but they can't use it." Harry jumped in.

"A likely story." The grey-haired man sneered. "Take them into custody."

Rock pointed her katana at the nearest wizard and the Rock Cannon at the one next to him, she shook her head slowly, glaring at them with her bright blue eyes.

"We can't allow you to do that, we've been tasked with protecting Harry. And we're not going to do that from within a prison cell." Strength told him, clenching her fists.

"Barty, this is Harry Potter, do you really think he would cast the Dark Mark? Or be with anyone who would?." Mr Weasley said as calmly as he could. "You've got our wands, check them!"

The man, Barty Crouch, held his own wand over each of the confiscated wands one by one. A small image floated above each one, showing the last spell it had cast. With reluctance, he ordered that the wands be returned to their owners. Without another word, he turned and walked away, the wizards who attacked them also left.

* * *

"So they just attacked you, without warning?" Mrs Weasley shouted in disbelief.

"Yeah, then Rock and Strength started battling them, they protected us." Ron said excitedly.

"But we weren't in any danger." Mr Weasley added quickly. "They were Ministry Wizards looking for the person who cast the Dark Mark, we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." He said, trying to sound cheerful.

"That's no excuse!" Bellowed Mrs Weasley.

It was at this moment that Ginny and Harry sneaked out of the kitchen to find Rock and Strength.

They quickly located them standing a short way from the back of the house.

"Hey Strength, I've got a question." Ginny said as she skipped over to the tanned Otherself.

"Hi Ginny, what did you want?" Strength smiled.

"When that wizard tried disarming you, why did you get thrown around like that?" Ginny asked.

"My Ogre Arms are fused to my body, when he tried to disarm me they were supposed to be pulled out of my grip, bus they are attached to me I ended up getting pulled along." Strength explained.

"So those are your real arms?" Ginny asked in amazement.

"No, my arms look like yours but my Ogre Arms are a part of me. Like Black Rock Shooter's Rock Cannon." Strength grinned in amusement.

Ginny looked carefully where the white-haired girl's real arms joined up with her giant metal ones'

"But that's impossible." The youngest Weasley stated. "I can see right through the elbow joints."

Strength snickered and gently, and carefully, ruffled her long, red hair.

"You live in a world of magic, you have small tents that can fit dozens of people inside. Oil paintings that can move, flying brooms, dancing fireworks, and you're saying that my arms are impossible?" Strength laughed.

Ginny blushed.

"Believe me." Harry said to Ginny. "With everything that I've learned and discovered in the last three years, Rock and Strength are quite ordinary." He looked at Strength. "That sounded bad, I'm sorry." He added.

Strength smiled and shook her head.

"I understood what you meant, that was the point I was trying to get across." The Otherself said.

"By the way, where has Rock gone?" Harry asked suddenly noticing that the pale girl had gone missing.

His question was answered by something hard and cold slapping him on the side of the head, he cried out in surprise and turned around. Rock was pointing the Black Blade straight at Harry's face.

"I guess you should pay more attention, I think you might pay for that later!" Strength giggled.

Harry sighed, he knew that Strength wasn't joking. Rock would end up pushing him harder and longer just to teach him a lesson.

 _And school isn't supposed to start for another two weeks._ He thought glumly.

* * *

In the Hogwarts Great Hall, Harry, Hermione and Ron were enjoying the feast and discussing the new school year. Rock sat silently in between Ron and Neville, who was trying to ignore her, she watched everyone eat and wondered where Strength was. The tanned, white-haired girl hadn't been formally made a student of Hogwarts like Rock had been, even though she had been given a room to call her own. Like Rock however, she never made use of it, instead preferring to sit on the roof and stare at the sky like the other girl did.

"The Triwizard Tournament, is, for those who do not know, a competition between three schools." Dumbledore was saying.

Rock paid the man no attention, instead she was focused on the hall and mentally noting down who was in proximity to herself and Harry and the quickest ways to counter attack against magic. This was something that she did every time she was in the Great Hall, she was asked to protect Harry, and it was something she took very seriously.

"Please join me in welcoming the ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmistress, Madame Maxime." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the large doors at the opposite end of the Great Hall.

About thirty or so girls, all wearing what looked like blue silk dresses entered. They skipped through the hall, releasing butterflies as they passed. Behind them walked a huge woman wrapped up in a fur coat, she towered over every person in the hall, which became apparent as Dumbledore took her hand.

"That's one big woman!" Ron exclaimed.

"And now, please welcome our friends from the north, the students of Durmstrang and their high master Igor Karkaroff!" Dumbledore said loudly.

A similar number of boys entered the hall, wearing thick furs and hats. They carried staffs which they twirled and hammered into the floor, creating a deep rhythmic pounding that sent chills down everyone's spine.

They were followed by a tall, thin man wearing a similar fur coat and hat as his students, beside him walked a sturdy looking boy of around seventeen.

"Bloody hell!" Ron cried as they walked past. "It's Viktor Krum!"

A loud murmuring surrounded them as many of the Hogwarts students recognised Viktor.

"Attention!" Dumbledore shouted, raising his arms. "Eternal glory, that is what awaits the winner of the Triwizard Tournament. But to do so, three extremely dangerous tasks must be faced." He said darkly.

"To this end, the Ministry has imposed a new rule. To explain this we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation, Bartimus Crouch." The headmaster continued.

Several shocked screams were heard as the enchanted ceiling of the great hall roared with thunder.

A stunned silence followed as suddenly Rock was out of her seat and racing towards a doorway to the side of the teachers table. She tackled a heavy-set man who had his wand out ready to cast a spell, he had some sort of device over his right eye, in the device was a bright blue eyeball, madly spinning in its socket.

As she knocked him to the floor, she ripped the wand from his hand and tore the strange device from his head, not knowing what it did.

"Black Rock Shooter!" Dumbledore bellowed. "What do you think you are doing?"

Rock glanced at Dumbledore but quickly turned her attention back to the intruder, a few seconds later Strength appeared in the doorway and picked up the man in one of her giant hands. She nodded to Rock to let her know she had a firm grip on him.

Dumbledore stormed over, his face a mixture of anger and confusion.

"I followed this man as he entered the castle, since everyone who is supposed to be in Hogwarts is in this room I thought I would keep an eye on him." Strength explained to Dumbledore. She then looked at Rock and blushed a little. "I'm afraid I got lost down one of the corridors."

"Miss Strength, I would appreciate it if you would put down our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Dumbledore said a little more calmly.

Rock and Strength looked at each other.

"Aye that's right lil' Missy, you've jus' seen me arrive. I was going to sort out that blasted ceiling, that's why I had my wand out." The man said.

Strength put him down.

"I take it you are unharmed Alastor?" Dumbledore enquired.

"I'm fine, although it's good to see some around here have got good sense to not let a stranger wander through their halls." Alastor said.

Dumbledore ignored the veiled insult to the security of the castle and, with peace restored, allowed Bartimus Crouch to speak.

A thin man wearing a pin-striped suit stood in front of the podium, he had grey hair, a pencil moustache and a very tired look upon his face.

"That's the guy who accused us of casting the Dark Mark, remember?" Hermione whispered.

"After much deliberation the ministry has concluded that for their own safety no student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the Triwizard tournament. This decision is final." Crouch said, almost without pause.

A massive uproar from the students followed, there were boos and hisses, several crude and obscene comments were heard above the yelling.

"Silence!" The headmaster bellowed.

A large case, fashioned like and octagonal pyramid was wheeled forwards. The elderly wizard tapped the casing with his wand and watched as the outside seemingly melted into nothingness, revealing a large goblet shaped bowl with a blue flame inside.

"The Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore said. "Anyone who wishes to enter the tournament merely write their name on a piece of parchment and place it into the flames before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so on a whim, as once chosen, there is no turning back." He paused and looked around the Great Hall. "As of now, the Triwizard Tournament has begun."

* * *

"What do you think of that Alastor person?" Strength asked from her usual spot on top of the astronomy tower.

Rock closed her eyes and shook her head, like Strength, she had a got a strange feeling from him. As a creature of instinct, she found it very difficult to not slay him on the spot, but if the headmaster said he was to be trusted then she would abide by his wishes for now.

"You're right, there's something about him that's not quite right." Strength said, reading the tiniest movements in Rock's face and body language to get an answer. "And it's nothing to do with his own form of insanity." She continued.

* * *

"Alastor Moody." The grizzled man said as he wrote his name on the blackboard. He turned to face the class, his mechanical eye spun wildly, focusing on each student before moving on to the next one.

Rock noticed that his eye seemed to linger on Harry and herself longer than anyone else, further fuelling the sensation that something was wrong about this man.

"When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe seeing is better than just reading about it in some book." Moody said. "Can someone tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" He asked.

"Three sir." Hermione answered while holding her arm up. "They are called unforgivable as using any one of them will..." She trailed off.

"Give you a one-way ticket to Azkaban." Moody finished for her. "Can anyone name the curses?" He asked. "Weasley!"

Ron jumped. "Err, there is one I know about, the Imperius Curse?" He said quietly. "I remember my dad telling me about it."

"Well he would know about that one, gave the Ministry a lot of problems a couple of years ago." Moody said.

He hobbled over to a jar containing live spiders, he pulled one out and as it sat on the palm of his hand he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the spider.

"Engorgio" The one-eye man said.

The spider grew to twice its original size, he placed it on Ron's desk.

"Imperio." Moody said.

The spider then jumped onto Ron's head, Ron froze with fear until Moody made the spider jump onto Draco Malfoy's face. Laughter filled the room as Professor Moody made the spider jump from person to person, until it jumped onto a jug of water.

"What shall I make her do now?" Moody asked. "Drown itself? Jump out of the window? Of maybe force its way down one of your throats?" He said with no hint of amusement. "A lot of witches and wizards were under the effect of the Imperius Curse, but here's the thing. How do we weed out the liars?"

He picked up the spider and brought it in front of Neville, Rock could almost taste the malicious intent behind his actions. It was as if he knew how the boy was going to react, like he knew who Neville was before the class.

She couldn't narrow it down any more than that, but every part of her was screaming to kill this man. It took every ounce of self control not to, even when Neville was physically shaking from the tiny noises of pain coming from the spider. Moody seemed to be enjoying Neville's discomfort, and enjoying torturing the spider even more.

"Stop, can't you see it's bothering him?" Hermione cried out.

Moody stopped immediately, he picked up the spider again and started to walk to Hermione's desk when Rock saw his mechanical eye focus on her. Mid-stride he walked up to her and placed the twitching spider upon her desk.

"And you, can you tell me the last unforgivable curse." Moody said.

Rock shook her head, she could guess what it was though.

"Sir, Rock can't talk." Harry said.

Moody nodded.

"It's the killing curse, girl." The grizzled auror said.

He pointed his wand at the abused arachnid.

Rock could definitely sense enjoyment coming from Moody now, while she wasn't as able to pick up on others emotions like Strength or Black Gold Saw was, it was so powerful from this man that there was no mistaking it. Her hand eased down towards her katana as she watched where the wand was being pointed.

"Avada Kedavra." Moody cried.

A bright green light illuminated the spider and it instantly stopped twitching, slowly it's legs contracted but it was already dead.

A sense of satisfaction came from Moody, Rock was so close to decapitating him that he was only saved when he dismissed the class.


	11. Chapter 11

"I've spoken to Dumbledore." Strength told Rock after lessons had ended for the day. "He says that there's nothing he can do for Black but he's going to try and get a retrial for Lupin, I couldn't understand all the details but he said something about Veritaserum. I don't know what that is."

Rock tilted her head, she had once heard Snape talk about that, it seemed to be able to force someone to speak the truth.

She grabbed Strength's hand and lead her through the castle to the dungeons.

"Miss Shooter, Miss Strength, I trust you have some reason for invading my privacy at this time?" Snape sneered, glancing up at them before concentrating on his own work.

"Yes Professor, we were wondering if you could tell us about something call Veritaserum?" Strength asked politely.

"I see, and what possible reason would you have to need to know about that?" Snape enquired.

"Professor Dumbledore, said something about it when he mentioned Remus Lupin's retrial." Strength said.

"Retrial? Why would he be bothering with that?" Snape asked looking up with genuine curiosity.

"When I was guarding Sirius Black he kept pleading his innocence, he kept talking about someone called Peter Pettigrew and how it was this man who betrayed James Potter." Strength explained.

"And you believed him." Snape stated sarcastically.

"Not his words no, our kind are instinctive and emotionless, we have to be otherwise we'd be overwhelmed. But we can still feel emotions from others, and Sirius strongly believes in what he was telling me." Strength said.

"But I have seen you laugh and be angry, you aren't emotionless." Snape pointed out.

Strength sighed. "My feelings were awakened by my companion, it's a long and personal story that I'm not telling you." She told him. "The point is, I'm different to the others. The only feelings they have, are extremely strong ones."

Rock placed a hand on her shoulder and the tanned girl relaxed her fists, she hadn't even realised she'd been clenching them.

"Very well then." Snape said, a barely detectable quiver in his voice. "Veritaserum is an extremely potent truth serum, three drops would be all it took for anyone to tell their deepest, darkest secrets."

"So it would prove Lupin's innocence?" Strength said excitedly.

"Well yes, but like most magic there are ways to counter it. Ways I'm sure a former teacher of Hogwarts would know. It's perfectly possible for the Wizengamot to disregard the testimony for this very reason." Snape said coldly.

"So we're back to square one." Strength said to Rock. "Because of us an innocent man is going to Azkaban."

Rock nodded slowly, the smallest hint of shame on her pale face.

* * *

The three schools of magic were sat in the Great Hall, the four long tables had been extended to make room for the additional bodies and everyone was chattering excitedly.

Even Strength was present, even through she normally prowled the grounds on her self imposed patrol route. Her theory was if any danger appeared then she would be able to deal with it quicker than the humans.

That theory was shaky at best now, as to her embarrassment, she had got lost when pursuing Alastor Moody.

Ginny had persuaded her to join the festivities and Strength found she couldn't resist the happy, smiling face of the freckled girl and agreed.

The noise in the Great Hall died down as the blue flames in the Goblet of Fire spluttered and turned red, seconds later it shot out a scorched section of parchment. Dumbledore snatched in from the air and read the name upon it.

"From the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore proudly exclaimed. Cheers exploded from the students and followed the tall, graceful blonde as she walked across the hall and into a side room.

The Goblet's flame turned red again and spat out another name.

"From Durmstrang, Viktor Krum!" Dumbledore called, just as sincerely.

A louder cheer filled the large hall as Viktor got up and followed the same path as Fleur.

Silence dropped almost instantly as the flame turned red again, the anticipation was thick in the room, every student on edge as the last name was disgorged from the scarlet flames.

"For Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore shouted, this time a broad grin across his bearded, kind face.

The hall almost burst from the applause the Cedric received as he made his way up the hall, blushing as he did so.

"That's it, we now have our three champ..." Dumbledore was cut off as the Goblet of Fire's flame turned red again, silence and confusion reigned as it spat out one more piece of parchment. With confusion, Dumbledore turned it over to read the name.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore bellowed.

* * *

Harry felt numb, as if all the blood had been drained from his body.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore yelled again.

Someone, Harry wasn't sure who, pushed him to his feet and he mindlessly moved, step by step towards the elderly wizard.

"This isn't good." Strength said.

Rock shook her head in agreement.

"What should we do?" The tanned Otherself asked.

"There's nothing you can do." Hermione answered. "I've been reading up on the Triwizards Tournament, if your name comes out of the Goblet, you have to compete. It's a binding magical contract." She explained.

"Yeah, but he could have told us how he put his name in there." Ron scowled.

"I don't think he did Ron." Hermione replied. "He would have told you if he did, and how he did it, you know that!"

"Ron, Harry hasn't been near the Goblet, except for when he was with you. Don't forget, Rock and I have been keeping an eye on him." Strength explained.

"Yeah but what about when you're asleep and he's in the boys' dorm?" Ron countered.

"We don't sleep." Strength said calmly. "Also we stay up on the astronomy tower at night, we can see right onto Harry's bed from there." She added.

"You can see us when we're asleep!" Ron cried out, a little too loudly. He drew a few odd looks.

"Not you, only Harry. What you do when you're sleeping is entirely your business, we can't see that from where we are." Strength reassured him.

"I doubt these two would want to see that anyway." Ginny added with a smirk.

Ron's face turned bright red and Strength giggled.

* * *

"So what happened?" Ron asked.

Harry had just returned to the Griffindor common room, when he had been pounced on by everyone. Rock and Strength had intervened and frightened everyone away, now the only people near Harry were Ron and Hermione, although Ginny was hanging around Strength she didn't try to go any closer.

"Well, Barty Crouch was there, as well as Madame Maxime and Igor Karkaroff. They were all accusing me of putting my name in the Goblet, only Dumbledore and Moody believed me." Harry said.

Strength and Rock looked at each other after Moody's name was mentioned.

"But I still have to take part, I don't have a choice." Harry sighed. "I was hoping for a quiet year this time." He muttered looking at the ceiling.

"Fat chance of that mate, you're a bigger magnet for trouble than Fred and George, and they look for it!" Ron smiled.

He had eventually come to trust in his best friend again, but only after Hermione had listed everything they had done for each other and Strength and Rock both confirmed that Harry hadn't sneaked out of bed.

"Yeah you're right, I just wish I knew who did it." Harry wondered.

* * *

"I think I know something about your first task mate." Ron said excitedly one morning.

"Yeah, what's that?" Harry asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"It's something to do with dragons." Ron told him.

"I hardly think that's possible Ron, it would be far too dangerous." Hermione replied.

"We got a letter from Charlie, he says he's coming over from Romania to do a spot of work at Hogwarts for the Triwizards Tournament." Ron explained.

"And what's that got to do with dragons?" Harry asked, unable to see the link.

"He works with them, looks after them. He makes sure the dragon population over there is healthy and stable. If he's coming back and working then it could only mean the first task involves a dragon." Ron said.

Harry broke out in a cold sweat, as much as he wanted to deny it, Ron's logic made perfect sense, even Hermione struggled to find any major errors.

* * *

The next few weeks had become almost unbearable for Harry, most of Hogwarts had decided that he was trying to steal glory from Cedric Diggory. The students either would refuse to talk to him or would flat out insult him as they passed.

Rock was walking with Harry as they passed a grassy courtyard. Then a familiar voice came from behind them.

"Potter!" Draco said perched in a tree. He jumped down and carried on.

"My father and I have a bet going, you see I don't think you'll last ten minutes in this competition." Draco paused with a smirk on his face. "He disagrees, he thinks you won't last five!"

"Piss off Malfoy." Harry sighed turning to leave.

"Don't turn your back on me, Potter!" Draco cried pulling out his wand.

Rock was about to intervene when suddenly Draco turned in a pure white ferret, feeling very confused she looked around and saw Moody hobble towards the ferret with his own wand out and pointing it at the Draco ferret.

A wave of hatred passed over her, closely followed by a vague sense of satisfaction over Draco's fate.

Rock pulled Harry away and towards their next lesson, behind them they could hear McGonagall berate Moody over his choice of punishments.

"Any idea how to face a dragon?" Harry asked suddenly.

Rock looked at him curiously, he had been wondering that same question for a while now but this was the first time he had directly asked her. She nodded, looked around to see if there were any bystanders and summoned the Rock Cannon.

"That's great, but I'm only allowed a wand." Harry muttered. "And it's not like I can pull a cannon out of thin air anyway." He gave Rock a strange look, and then a smile crept across his face.

"Thank you, I've got an idea!" Harry grinned and ran off towards their next lesson to find Hermione.

* * *

"How come Snape doesn't hate you?" Ron asked Rock as they were doing Potions homework. "I mean, he's vile to all of us except you. What's the reason?"

Rock shrugged and shoot her head, _it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that I do the work, I don't speak and I'm not an insufferable know-it-all._ She thought, quoting Snape on the last part. That was Rock's idea of how Snape thought, she could have been wrong, but judging from his demeanour, that was the impression she got.

She tuned out Ron's ranting and focused on the work in front of her, it was pointless but for her to fit in and make her job of protecting Harry easier, she had to do it.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Life in the past week had gotten in the way of this story, hopefully everything should be back to normal now though.**

 **None of these characters are mine.**


	12. Chapter 12

It was the day of the first trial, Harry was inside a large marquee along with the other three champions. Despite them willingly putting their names into the Goblet of Fire, they seemed just as nervous as he was, even Viktor Krum, who Harry would have thought to be used to this sort of pressure.

Rock and Strength were sat in the arena that was attached to the tent the four champions were currently in, the ground inside the arena looked like it had been turned upside down. Large rocks and boulders were strewn everywhere, deep cracks and fissures lined the uneven stony ground. It was as though someone had taken a section of a mountain and transported it to Hogwarts.

Surrounding them were Ron, Hermione and Ginny, all listening to Dumbledore explain the task the four champions had to do.

All they simply had to do was to retrieve a gold egg, and the only obstacle was a huge dragon, each of the champions had a different dragon that was chosen randomly just before Dumbledore had exited the tent. The first of the dragons was brought out was a silvery-blue colour, the Swedish Short-Snout, and Cedric Diggory was the first to attempt the challenge.

Inside the tent Harry was on the verge of panic, with every gasp and cry he assumed the worst had happened. Eventually a great cheer went up and Cedric was announced to have completed the task.

Fleur was next, followed by Viktor. Each of them successfully completed the challenge, and enough it was Harry's turn.

Rock and Strength leaned forward as Harry emerged from the tent. From what Ron had been saying, Harry was facing a Hungarian Horntail, a black scaled, 15 metre beast with bronze coloured horns and long spikes coming out of its tail like a mace. Even before Harry came out it was angrily breathing fire at everything within reach, including the thick chain that was stopping it from flying away.

The dragon was so focused on the chain that it didn't notice Harry approach the egg until the last minute, then it breathed a great plume of flame at him before trying to slice at him with its claws. Harry narrowly avoided both attacks and dove behind a rock, he pulled out his wand and pointed at the sky.

"Accio Firebolt!" Harry cried as the rock behind him started to glow.

Rivulets of molten rock began to pour down the boulder when Harry jumped onto the rapidly approaching broomstick.

"For a second there." Strength muttered to Rock. "I thought he was going to try to summon a sword." She chuckled. "That would have been really stupid."

Rock could only nod in agreement, Harry was getting better but he was still nowhere near good enough to face a monster like a dragon on his own. The two of them watched as Harry zoomed through the arena, passing through small gaps in the stone barely larger than he was. Every time he tried to get to the egg the dragon was there waiting for him, he pulled up clear of the rocks and hovered while he contemplated his next move.

Below him the Horntail tried to follow, it flew as hard as it could against the thick chain restricting its range.

The chain, damaged be the intense heat of dragonfire and the strain of the dragon's strength, snapped. With a roar it sped through the sky like a bullet straight towards Harry who only managed to dodge away at the last minute.

"Crap!" Strength exclaimed. "We've got to help him!"

Rock nodded and the two of them got up, before they could leave however Hermione stopped them.

"Wait, you can't intervene, if you do he'll be disqualified." The bushy haired girl told them.

"Does it matter?" Asked Strength. "He didn't want to take part anyway." She said staring down the other girl.

"Hermione, you'd better let them through before they force their way through you." Ginny warned, poking her head out from behind Strength.

With a huff, Hermione stepped out of their way. When the two Otherselves were out of view she looked down at Ginny sternly.

"What? They would've gone anyway, only difference is you'd be watching them leave from on your butt." Ginny shrugged.

Hermione huffed again.

* * *

Harry was trying to lose the dragon in the many towers of Hogwarts, he weaved his way between them as fast as he could manage. He was slowly losing it as well until he risked a quick look back.

He was too close to a tower and clipped the very edge of the broom on one of the roof tiles, launching him into an uncontrollable spin. He collided with the roof of another tower, bouncing off it and hitting an arched window on the way down. He slid of the edge but managed to get a good enough grip to hold on as he braced himself by his tiptoes on the narrow widow ledge.

The Horntail perched on the conical roof above him, it staggered along the roof trying to find purchase on the ancient tiles and causing many of them to shatter and fall to the ground.

Harry spotted his Firebolt just above the window and managed to grab the ebony wood handle and pulled, however the iron foot grips had hooked itself over the top of the window and refused to move.

He struggled with the broom as the dragon came closer, now just a few metres from him, it reared its head back and Harry could hear it suck in a breath.

Harry managed to free the broom and dove off the window as the black beast breathed fire at the spot he had been less than a second before. With a loud roar the dragon leapt into flight behind Harry, resuming the cat-and-mouse chase from moments before.

In the distance, Harry spotted two very familiar looking figures running towards the castle, one was a lithe, pale-skinned girl in a long black coat with white stripes. The other was a tanned girl wearing a black dress and had giant metal hands and a metal tail. They also spotted him and Strength waved him over.

Not knowing what they were doing, he flew towards them, only to see Rock deploy her cannon into the triple-barrelled gun and start firing at him. As he swerved out of the way, the dragon flew straight into the bullets.

* * *

Rock was using a low powered, non-lethal version of her Vulcan cannon at Strength's request. The shorter girl didn't want the dragon to die, just be distracted enough to leave Harry alone.

It worked, Harry was now hurtling towards the arena, soon to get the golden egg while they were now facing an angry dragon.

It landed on the ground in front of them with a crash, making the ground tremble. Rock dodged out of the way as it breathed fire at them, but Strength simply hid behind her metal hands until the flames had died down. Then in a flash, she had jumped towards the Horntail, thrusting her balled fist into the side of the dragon's head. It collapsed without a sound, and for a moment only the beast's breathing, a quiet rumbling noise, could be heard.

"You think it's okay?" Strength asked.

Rock shrugged.

"That doesn't help, I didn't want to hurt it, just stop it." Strength said sadly. She walked around to its tail and dragged it towards the arena.

* * *

"The judges have made their decision!" Dumbledore announced, standing just outside the champions tent.

The crowd fell deathly silent.

"In first place, with creative use of the Conjunctivitis Curse, Viktor Krum!" The elderly wizard said loudly.

A cheer erupted from the crowd.

"In second place, displaying advanced skill with Transfiguration, is Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore said.

Another cheer from the crowd.

"In third place, with a very impressive attempt at the Bewitched Sleep spell, Fleur Delacour!" The long bearded wizard announced.

More cheering, accompanied by several wolf whistles.

"And lastly, Harry Potter, who completed the task but has been disqualified for receiving outside assistance. Albeit without Harry's prior knowledge." Dumbledore said, a faint, almost undetectable hint of disappointment in his voice.

Confusion and several boos followed, mainly directed towards the judges but a substantial amount towards Harry as well.

Inside the tent, Harry placed his head in his hands and groaned.

* * *

After Strength had delivered the Horntail back to the tournament officials, with a stern warning about using powerful free-will creatures as entertainment. The two Otherselves encountered Harry exiting the champions tent holding a large golden egg.

"Impressive flying." Strength grinned, walking over to him.

"Thanks, but it's not going to make any difference. Everyone's going to think I cheated." Harry muttered.

"Well you can't stand out here all day, come on we'll take you back. No one's going to bother you with both of us around." Strength smiled.

Harry frowned at that, but nodded in agreement and the three of them made their way to Griffindor tower.

* * *

"Well that was eventful!" Strength exclaimed.

Night had fallen, and Rock and Strength were sat on the outer wall of Hogwarts watching the four dragons being packed into giant flameproof containers and taken away.

"I don't think Griffindor appreciated our attempts to help!" Strength giggled.

Rock shook her head slowly.

"Yeah, maybe we should stay in the castle next time. We've already made too much of an impact here, Black Gold Saw would not be happy." The tanned girl laughed. "What's wrong? Are you missing Mato?" She asked after noticing the slim, pale girl hadn't responded.

Strength knew that she was, after all her own connection had been severed many months ago and it ached deep within her. Rock had been cut off for far longer.

"Don't get any funny ideas, you know you can't see her." Strength warned. "Besides, she on the other side of the world. Maybe when we've done our job, if you're sure Harry is what we need to stop Voldemort."

Rock dropped her head, she knew that Strength was right. She had to stay here for Mato's sake, but the urge to leave and find her was almost overwhelming

"Hey, cheer up. As long as you're here, she's safe. Focus on that." Strength said kindly.

Now if she could only believe it herself.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Hate this chapter now, such a pain.**

 **Vague idea where this is going, it will finish before the books do however.**

 **Don't worry BRS and Strength won't be smushing everything forever, it's starting to get boring to write.**

 **I am making all of this up as I go along.**

 **Also, don't know who Monster Musume is.**

 **Don't own anything here**

 **Goin' t'pub.**


	13. Chapter 13

The Yule Ball came and went without incident, and with the second task fast approaching, there was increasing pressure on Harry to solve the clue in the golden egg.

"So how close are you to figuring it out?" Hermione asked one morning at breakfast.

Harry mumbled something into his toast and looked away.

"Harry!" Hermione said disapprovingly. "The second task is only a few weeks away, how are you going to prepare for it if you don't know what it is?"

"I know!" Harry groaned. "It just I've tried everything I can think of, plus what you and Ron can come up with. It's no use, we'll never find out what it is." He said, slumping forwards.

"Why don't you try putting it in water?" Ginny asked, causing Harry, Hermione and Ron to jump in surprise.

"Why'd you say that?" Ron said, his heart still beating wildly.

"Well, last night Strength heard Cedric being told to place it underwater. She never heard the voice clearly though, Cedric repeated what was being said to him." Ginny explained while scowling at her brother.

"When did you find this out?" Ron demanded.

"Early this morning, I couldn't sleep so I decided to go see her. 'Cause she never sleeps." Ginny replied.

"You're spending a lot of time with her." Ron stated.

"Yeah, she's pretty cool. Plus it's interesting listening about where they come from. Did you know Black Gold Saw can create a rip in reality, force her sword through and have a giant version appear in a different place of her choosing?" Ginny said excitedly.

"Erm, no. T-that's nice." Hermione stammered, confused by the apparently random piece of information. "How do you know that's even true?" She added.

"I don't, but she doesn't have any reason to lie." Ginny shrugged. "Just try it Harry." She said, nudging him with her hand.

"Yeah, I will." Harry smiled.

* * *

Later that night, Harry sneaked out of Griffindor tower with the golden egg and to the nearest bathroom. Outside the room he noticed Rock standing guard, he slowed down, puzzled as to why she was there.

"Rock!" Harry whispered.

Rock turned and motioned him into the room.

"What's going on? You were expecting me?" Harry asked in confusion.

Rock pointed at herself then balled her hands into fists and held them just in front of her face.

Harry stared blankly at Rock for several moments before he finally understood.

"Strength told you I'd be coming here?" Harry said. Rock nodded. "But why? And how did you know I'd be coming to this one?" He asked.

She pointed at the bathroom door, then she crossed her arms over her chest and swung them out to her sides. Then she pointed to Harry, made walking motions with her index and middle finger, then brought her palms together in imitation of a clap only slower.

Again, Harry took a little while to figure it out.

"Okay so you're here to stop people going into this bathroom, and you knew I'd come here as it's the closest one. Is that right?" Harry asked.

Rock nodded, pointed to him and pointed to the door.

"Alright, I'm going. Are you going to be here until I come out?" Harry asked.

Rock nodded again.

Harry smiled, then disappeared inside.

* * *

Rock waited patiently outside, she grew concerned when a loud ear-piercing shriek came from inside the room. She winced in pain but still managed to make out a few words, something about singing above the ground and only having an hour, before it suddenly stopped.

She looked towards the door as it opened, Harry walked out carrying the egg. His face was a mixture of relief and confusion.

"I figured out the clue." Harry said, replying to Rock's questioning gaze. "You wouldn't have any idea on how to breathe underwater do you?"

* * *

"This is pointless, there's nothing here that can help." Hermione frowned.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sat in the library researching spells and enchantments that could potentially help Harry in the second test, each of them had large piles of books either side of them.

Just then, Neville, closely followed by Strength walked up to them.

"Ron, Hermione. Dumbledore would like to see you." Neville said nervously.

Hermione sighed, and after making sure that Ron was following, left the library.

"What's up?" Asked Strength, sitting down on the table Harry was hunched over.

"Just researching ways to breathe underwater, any ideas?" Harry asked.

"Nope, sorry, maybe Neville has?" Strength suggested.

Harry looked at Neville who was suddenly engrossed in packing the towers of books away.

"Ww-well, you could always try gillyweed." Neville said shyly, not looking at Strength. "It's a Mediterranean plant that allows the person who consumes it to breathe underwater by adding gills, it also webs the hands and feet allowing the user to swim faster." He added, slowly getting more confident.

"That's great Neville, where did you get this from?" Harry asked excitedly.

"From Professor Moody, it was when we had tea after, after he..." Neville trailed off.

"That's okay, I remember." Harry said quickly. "Do you think you could get some for tomorrow?"

"I don't know." Neville said, becoming nervous and withdrawn again.

"Please try Neville, this is important." Harry pleaded.

Neville nodded then hurried away, throughout the entire conversation he hadn't looked at Strength at all. He had barely acknowledged her existence when she had bumped into him and cheerfully suggested that they see Harry together.

"That was odd." Harry said frowning.

"Hardly, poor boy is terrified of me. I know I look scary but I'm nice aren't I?" Strength said, spreading her hands questioningly. "Besides Black Rock Shooter is the one people should be afraid of, if she goes insane again there won't be anyone in this world who can stop her." She stopped and cringed as she realised what she had just said.

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked, he had frozen halfway through putting a book on a shelf.

"Nothing, ignore me, I didn't say anything." Strength replied too quickly.

"Yes you did, 'if she goes insane again' those were your exact words." Harry stated.

"Yeah? And that will be the last time you repeat them." Strength said darkly. "Look Harry, I like you, you've got this kind of accidental coolness about you. And as a friend I'm telling you to forget what I said, it really isn't something you want to know about." She placed a giant hand on his head and ruffled his hair. "Anyway, don't focus on that, what about you and Ginny?" She grinned.

"What do you mean by that?" Harry said tripping over backwards in surprise.

"The kid's obsessed with you, and this isn't some teenage crush or anything, it's genuine." Strength grinned.

"How could you possibly know that?" Harry asked, slightly scared.

"Because I'm an Otherself, all of us can sense emotions. Normally it's only our partners emotions unless it's really strong, but since living in your world before I learnt how to feel other peoples as well." Strength explained. "So yeah, Ginny's feelings are real. Unlike yours towards Cho Chang or Black Rock Shooter." She smirked.

"W-what? How did you?" Harry blurted out.

"Weren't you listening?" Strength grinned. "I can feel emotions, and what you're feeling for those two is just lust. Besides, Cho likes Cedric Diggory, and Black Rock Shooter has no romantic interest in anyone. Ever."

Harry was stunned and confused, his fondness of Cho was fairly common knowledge in Griffindor, but he had no idea that someone knew about his attraction to Rock. He had heard some boys in the common room talk about her when she wasn't around, so he knew he wasn't alone. But to hear someone outright claim that he liked Rock seemed to shut his brain down, a large part of him wanted to deny it, and another part pointed out how stupid that was.

In the end he stared at Strength, mouth opening and closing like a fish with the Otherself looking at him with amusement.

* * *

The following day was the second trial, three large wooden towers had been set up in the lake. Students from all three schools were crowded into the upper levels of the towers while the lowest levels had been taken up buy the four champions and the judges.

The only two not present were Rock and Strength, instead they were sat on the edge of the Great Halls roof watching the proceedings in the distance.

"This is stupid." Strength muttered. "Dumbledore knows there's nothing they can do to keep us out, so why does he insist on us being left behind?" She moaned.

Rock tilted her head in Strength's direction and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, we did kinda knock out their dragon." Strength said sheepishly. "But it was attacking us! I wasn't about to kill it, especially as it couldn't really harm us."

Rock shook her head.

"Okay, so the dragon could have hurt us!" Strength admitted loudly. "But there was no way we would have let it, it was too slow."

Rock placed a hand on Strength's shoulder, sensing the building of emotion. The shorter girl let out a slow shuddering breath and smiled.

"Thank you, I never noticed. There's something about this world isn't there?" Strength admitted.

Rock looked around the landscape, while it was certainly prettier than her own world, she would take her own over this one.

"Maybe it's because I'm here in my own body this time, but there's more emotion in the air, it seems to permeate everything." Strength said while staring at the Black Lake, not noticing that Rock was also lost in her own thoughts. She idly watched as a tiny figure fell into the lake and emerge seconds later in a leap from the water that must have been at least three metres high.

After an hour, both Strength and Rock were starting to get concerned. Fleur had already surfaced before the hour was up. Cedric had arrived about a minute after the hour was up and Viktor was close behind, but no sign of Harry.

It wasn't until they both decided to go and out what had happened when they heard a cheer come from the towers in the distance. Harry, it appeared, had finally arrived safely. Strength let out a sigh of release.

"That's good, you know I'm really starting to like that guy." Strength grinned.

Rock stared at her.

"Oh not like that!" Strength laughed. "He's got a good heart, full of courage and kindness. That's rare and you know it."

Rock eventually nodded.

"Now come on, we've got to congratulate him!" Strength smiled as she leapt off the roof.


	14. Chapter 14

"We weren't in any real danger! You do really think Dumbledore would allow anything to happen to us?" Ron said loudly. "You could've won!"

"Well I didn't know that!" Harry exclaimed. "I was just wanted you all to be safe!"

Rock and Strength entered the common room at this moment, they glanced at each other as they approached Harry.

"What's going on?" Strength asked.

"It's nothing, Harry didn't know that we were safe and stayed with us until the other champions had rescued us." Hermione answered. She turned to Harry. "Viktor says thank you, by the way."

"I know I've been away from the human world for a while, but isn't it good that Harry thinks more of your lives than winning a competition?" Strength asked, a little confused.

"Yes, but we weren't in danger!" Ron sighed.

"But did Harry know that?" Strength asked. "And wouldn't you have done the same in his place?"

"Yes, I would've." Ron muttered.

Harry patted him on the shoulder and grinned. Ron smiled and pulled Harry into a quick embrace before pulling away, slightly embarrassed.

The rest of the night passed quickly with much celebrating, Rock had slunk into a corner, keeping an eye on Harry. Ginny and Strength were quietly talking in front of the fireplace, possibly about Harry. Harry, Ron and Hermione were laughing on one of the sofas, something about polyjuice, Rock didn't understand the details. Instead, she found her thoughts returning to her world. She wondered what Dead Master and Chariot were doing, whether the peace that was between them was still in place. More than that, she thought about Mato, she hated having to leave her.

"Black Rock Shooter?" Said a voice.

Rock snapped out her thoughts to see everyone was staring at her, a few of them had started to back away. Only Strength approached, she had a concerned look on her face.

It was then that Rock realised that she had ignited her eye, bright blue flames blazed out and were spreading themselves out on the ceiling above her. With a quick breath the flames sparked and fizzled until they went out completely, without a second thought she turned and left the common room.

"What was all that about?" Ginny asked Strength.

"It's not good, she was thinking about her partner. The last thing we need is for her to get emotional." Strength answered.

"Why?" The youngest Weasley asked.

"Because she could destroy us all." Strength said to her quietly. She held Ginny within her giant hands and looked into the younger girl's bright brown eyes. "If you see blue flames coming from Black Rock Shooter's eye, stay out of her way, if you see purple flames, run and don't look back. Get as far away from her as possible, and maybe if you're lucky, you might survive." She stated seriously.

Ginny shrank away in fear, she had never seen Strength so serious, so forceful. She couldn't do anything but nod dumbly.

"I'm sorry for scaring you." Strength said, still serious but in a kinder tone. "But she is extremely dangerous, we all are, but she is single-minded. The only reason she is still around is because she believes that Harry can stop Voldemort."

Ginny shivered at the name.

"What is it about that name that causes everyone to clam up?" Strength asked in confusion.

"Sit down and I'll tell you what I know." Ginny sighed.

* * *

Rock had escaped the Griffindor tower was now lying down on the roof of the astronomy one. The sky above her was thick with clouds, blocking her view of the stars. Inwardly she cursed, gazing at the stars calmed her down when emotions started building up. She almost growled in frustration as she summoned her Rock Cannon and pointed it at the sky.

A familiar whine came from the cannon but as it reached its critical limit she powered it down, taking several deep breaths and closing her blue eyes to regain her composure. It wasn't just Strength who had trouble controlling her emotions in this world, Otherselves like her shouldn't feel much of anything but that was slowly changing here. She wished she could return, to feel the connection to Mato.

"What's wrong?" Strength asked as she climbed up onto the roof. "Homesick?" No hint of sarcasm or malice behind the question.

Rock opened her eyes and stared blankly at the sky, a tiny flicker of blue flame emerged from her left eye before extinguishing. She nodded ever so slightly.

"That's understandable, as are your feelings. You're more susceptible to them here." Strength told her as she sat cross-legged next to Rock.

"Remember you're doing this for her, all of this, and one day you will see her again." The white-haired girl said quietly, almost to herself.

Rock continued to look at the sky, another tiny flame ignited briefly before going out.

* * *

"Hey Ginny, don't suppose you could tell that weird girl with the metal hands that Dumbledore wanted to see her, could ya?" Seamus Finnigan said to Ginny as she entered the common room from the girls' dormitory. "I'd tell her m'self, only she scares the bejesus outta me."

"Sure thing." Ginny smirked. "Never thought you would be scared of a girl!"

"Only ones that could crush me with one hand." Seamus said before smiling and wandering off to find Dean.

Ginny shook her head before leaving to find Strength, as she was about to leave the common room Ron stopped her.

"What's going on between you and Strength? You're always together, and you've got this look in your eyes whenever you see her." Ron whispered harshly. "You don't, fancy her, do you?"

"What! No! I'm not gay!" The freckled, redhead exclaimed. "Strength is just really cool, you'd know that if you bothered to talk to her at all. She's been through so much and still has a positive outlook on life, it's incredible." She told him.

"Sounds like you have a crush on her." Ron hissed.

"Yeah? Well ask her about that, she can sense emotions from people and Otherselves don't lie so she'll be able to tell you if I do or not." Ginny responded angrily. "Also what do you care if I do? It's none of your business." She added before storming out of the tower.

* * *

"You wanted to speak to me?" Strength said as she walked into Dumbledore's office. She looked at Professor Moody who was also in the room and winced slightly from the anger and rage coming from him. She felt confused as there was also a sense of amusement and intense loyalty about the grizzled ex-auror. She suppressed the feeling and focused on Dumbledore, making a note to not get close to him.

"Right then, I'll be off." Moody said as he hobbled out of the door which closed behind him.

"Miss Strength, I've asked you here to inform you of Remus Lupin's trial." Dumbledore said quickly, even from the other side of the office, he could feel the negative emotions coming from her.

"What's the verdict?" Strength said hopefully.

"Still guilty." Dumbledore said sadly. "But his sentence has been reduced from the dementors kiss to life imprisonment in Azkaban."

"From what I've heard, that's not much of a reduction." Strength said grimly.

"No it's not." Dumbledore agreed, gently stroking his long snowy beard. "However, if he were to somehow escape? I doubt a werewolf would be easily tracked by the dementors, especially if it happened just before the full moon in four days time."

Strength grinned.

"And if he did escape, where would he probably go?" The orange eyed girl asked.

"Well there is a place." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

* * *

"What do you mean she doesn't!" Ron almost shouted.

"She doesn't fancy me, in any way, there's no attraction between us. She had a vast amount of respect for both Black Rock Shooter and I, and a lot of admiration too, but that's it." Strength said, repeating, and elaborating on what Ginny had told Ron.

Ron leaned against a wall and sighed in relief.

"I'm starting to feel a little offended here, any reason why you're so relieved she doesn't have romantic feelings towards me?" Strength asked, tapping one foot on the floor.

Ron jerked up in panic.

"It's nothing personal, but, y'know, she's my little sister, I've got to look after her." Ron told her.

"Admirable, pointless but admirable, your sister can take care of herself, she's a very competent witch." Strength smiled. "You should pay more attention to Hermione though." She added mischievously.

"Huh, Hermione, why?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Because you might learn something from her!" Strength laughed and pushed him away gently. By the time Ron had stood up again she was gone.

"Bloody mental, no matter where they're from." Ron muttered.

* * *

"So that's the plan." Strength whispered to Rock as they stood on top of Hogwarts. "We break Lupin out of Azkaban and take him to this place in London while the third Triwizard challenge is taking place here. That way no one notices we're gone." She said.

Rock nodded before pointing in a wide arc before her then shrugging.

"It's somewhere north of here, in the sea." Strength replied.

Rock gave her a withering look.

"I don't where it is exactly, but Dumbledore said he would sort out getting to and from the island, all we have to do is get Lupin out in time." Strength whispered.

Rock nodded slowly and the pair jumped off the roof and ran to the Black Lake.

* * *

Harry was getting a last minute bite to eat before the final task, when he suddenly noticed something unusual.

"Hey Hermione, where's Rock?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her or Strength for the last three days." Hermione replied.

"Hey Ron, do you where Rock's gone?" Harry said, turning to face his oldest friend.

Ron simply shrugged, unable to speak due to a large amount of pudding in his mouth.

"Disgusting." Hermione scoffed.

Ron gave Harry a smirk and returned to eating.

* * *

In the middle of the North Sea, a tiny row boat moved steadily across the large swells. Despite have two passengers inside, the boat moved of its own accord without any interference.

"A boat!" Strength exclaimed, getting drenched once again with ice cold seawater. "A powerful wizard like him couldn't even make it have some sort of canopy!" She grumbled.

Rock stared into the distance, trying to catch the slightest glimpse of the wizarding prison.

Harry and the other three champions were standing in front of an enormous hedge maze, the thick 25 metre tall shrubbery stood imposingly over them. An impermeable fog lay inside the maze, blocking anyone from see what might be inside.

Dumbledore was addressing the champions, laying down the rules and the objective of this specific task.

The four champions had to reach the centre of the maze and claim the Triwizard Cup, whoever reached this first would be crowned the winner. As Cedric had the most points he would enter the maze first, followed by Viktor then Fleur. As Harry had been disqualified from the first task, he had the fewest points and would enter last.

With that, Dumbledore started to count the champions down.

* * *

Rock and Strength finally arrived on the tiny, unnamed island that housed Azkaban. As the boat beached itself to ensure it wouldn't get swept away with the waves, the pair looked up at the ominous black fortress.

"Holy crap." Strength whispered. "It's almost as big as Dead Master's Necropolis, and look, more of those dementors." She pointed with a huge finger.

Rock looked into Strength's eyes and Strength returned the gaze, after a second they both nodded at the same time and proceeded to march up the rocky beach towards the place all wizards fear.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Don't own any characters or concepts.**


	15. Chapter 15

Harry entered the vast maze, just before the hedge grew over the entrance, he looked back. He saw Moody who had been standing by him at the start of the trial pointing a finger right, then he was blocked by the hedges and was alone.

He turned around from the entrance and headed down the path Moody had indicated, the thick fog seemed to dissipate slightly allowing Harry to see a bit further. He drew his wand after he heard a snarl come from the hedge beside him, a cold shiver ran up his spine as he slowly continued deeper into the maze.

* * *

Rock and Strength were circling the giant black fortress of Azkaban trying to find the entrance, an army of dementors floated above them as they patrolled the skies. Occasionally, one or two would hover down to the Otherselves but would stay just out of reach, as though they didn't want to come any closer.

Eventually, after nearly half an hour, the two found a large archway with a set of double doors as black as the stone the prison was built from. With a hesitant push from Strength the doors swung inwards without much effort, they recoiled from the raw emotions that flooded over them. The sorrow and despair seemed to smother them, it felt like they were covered in tar.

"How can this place exist and we not know about it?, something like this would even cast a shadow in our world." Strength said in disgust.

Rock could only shake her head, her face was twisted in anger. She couldn't let these people be in so much pain and anguish.

"Calm down, we need to find Lupin, the rest of these people we can worry about later. Remember why you're in this world." Strength said.

Rock summoned the Rock Cannon and drew the Black Blade before storming into the prison.

"Aww, crap!" Strength exclaimed, following her in.

* * *

Harry heard a shout and a series of small explosions from nearby, without a second thought he ran through the maze in an attempt to find the source of the shout. As he rounded a corner he came face to face with a Blast-Ended Skrewt, a monstrous hybrid created by Hagrid earlier in the year. It was 3 metres long and resembled a giant claw-less scorpion, it had a long tail that arched over its back and ended with a large stinger.

Harry skidded to a halt as the skrewt turned towards him, and sparks blasted from the back of it sending it hurtling toward him. He instinctively rolled out of the way and pointed his wand towards it.

"Impedimenta!" Harry yelled.

A bolt of light shot out of his wand and hit the skrewt on the underbelly, causing it to crash into the hedge in front of it. Harry got up and quickly ran in the opposite direction, reminding himself to thank Hermione for making him learn the jinx.

In the distance he heard a scream, it sounded similar to the shout which had brought him to the skrewt. Only this time it sounded like it was in pain rather than in shock, and it wasn't just the once, the scream repeated itself.

Cautiously, Harry made his way through the maze to the screams. He eventually found Cedric lying on the floor writhing in pain with Viktor standing over him. Viktor had his wand pointed at Cedric was repeatedly casting the Cruciatus Curse on him, Harry noticed that Viktor's eyes had glazed over.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried.

Viktor's wand was torn from his grip and into the air, he started to approach Cedric who responded by stunning him. After Viktor had collapsed from being hit by the red bolt, Harry used his own wand to send sparks up into the air.

"Thanks, it looked like he had the Imperius Curse on him." Cedric said grimly.

"Yeah, you don't think Fleur could've done it, do you?" Harry asked.

"I dunno, but let's be careful, okay?" Cedric advised.

Harry nodded, and the two parted ways, heading in opposite directions.

* * *

Strength had difficulty fitting into some narrower corridors inside Azkaban, her Ogre Arms taking up most of the width.

"Damn, I can't get down there." Strength stated after getting her hand stuck and ripping away a large portion of masonry to free it.

Rock walked back to the other girl and pointed up.

"Gotcha, I'll keep going up. Searching the places I can get to, you follow with the places I can't." Strength repeated.

Rock nodded and patted the girl on her shoulder.

"You too, don't worry we'll end their pain eventually." Strength shouted over a sudden wailing that came from the prison cell next to her.

Rock sped through the tight passages, glancing into each one as she passed. After several minutes she turned a corner and ran into a dementor, the icy cold skin and rags enveloped her for a moment before it wheeled back. She shivered and tried to point her cannon at it, but the large weapon was too cumbersome to use in such an enclosed space.

Luckily the dementor fled as she struggled with the gun. With irritation she dispelled the cannon, she focused hard on the wands that everyone carried and attempted to form the Rock Cannon into something similar, something small that would be easier to handle in the claustrophobic corridors.

After a few seconds, tiny metal plates appeared out of multiple flashes of blue light. They formed into a black rod nearly 30 centimetres in length and a centimetre in width, the main shaft had three ridges similar to the large spurs on the cannon barrel. The handle had multiple zigzagging lines that ran down towards the end and these glowed with a pale blue light.

Rock looked at the wand facsimile wand she had created, she tested it out on the floor in front of her. The resulting crater told her that it still had the same power as the cannon, but instead of a rock, it had produced a blue ball of energy.

Gripping the wand tightly, she continued searching the black prison.

* * *

Harry's journey through the maze had come to a halt. In front of him was the face of a beautiful woman, large almond shaped eyes, full lips, dark bronze skin. However, the face was attached to the body of a huge lion, massive paws at the ends of thick limbs and a thick, muscular body that seemed to scream danger.

To Harry's surprise, the creature, a sphinx, spoke.

"You are very near your goal, the quickest way is past me. Answer my riddle correctly and you shall be free." The Sphinx said.

"That's all? I just need to answer a riddle?" Harry said suspiciously.

"Yes, but beware, answer correctly and you are near your task. Answer incorrectly and that breath shall be your last." The Sphinx said as it licked the back of a huge paw.

"What if don't answer?" Harry asked.

"Then you can go, but you cannot afford to be slow." The beast answered.

"Let's hear the riddle." Harry said nervously.

"Very well." The Sphinx smiled. "First think of the person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, The middle of middle and end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard During the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

"Err, what? Can you repeat that please?" Harry asked. "Just a bit more slowly."

The Sphinx smiled again and did as requested.

 _A person who lives in disguise?_ _Deals in secrets? Imposter? No. Spy?_ Harry thought. _Middle of middle and end of end? Dunno about that one._

 _Sound often heard during the search for a word?_ Harry's mind went blank.

"Err." Harry muttered nervously. "Wait! Er! If the first part is spy, then spy, er. Spyer? No. Ah, spy, dee, er. Spider!" He said proudly.

He flinched as she stood up, but instead of attacking she stepped to the side and grinned, flashing large pointed teeth.

"Thanks." Harry said as he ran past.

Soon, after a few dead ends, he saw a bright glow ahead of him. There, standing on a large stone plinth was the Triwizards Cup. He dashed towards it, only to be almost knocked down by Cedric running into him. He caught Cedric as he stumbled and the both took a breath. After a long pause they both darted towards the cup, behind them a loud rustling noise began to get closer. Harry risked a glance back, the hedges were beginning to close up behind them, swallowing anything that was in there path.

Harry forced himself to run faster, however he still began to lose to Cedric who was much faster.

An instant of good fortune for Harry made Cedric's foot get caught up in some vines, the older student face-planted onto the cold dirt and Harry sped on.

"Help!" Cedric cried. "It's got me!"

Harry stopped and looked behind him. Several vines had got wrapped around his foot, and more were creeping up his leg. Harry glanced at the cup just ahead of him then down to the floor, it was the longest moment of indecision in Harry's life so far.

He shot at the vines now encircling Cedric's waist and pulled the remainder away, he helped the older boy to his feet and together they moved as fast as they could to keep ahead of the closing hedge.

* * *

Strength's search was starting to annoy her, the constant pressure of negative emotions weighed her down like a dress made of granite. The dementors were also getting in her way, they were trying to impede her progress but couldn't stand to be near her. So they just hovered in her field of vision, stopping her from seeing anything but a mass of black tattered robes and grey mottled skin.

In frustration she punched the wall to her left, pulverising the brickwork and leaving a two metre hole in its place.

"Move! Or I will tear this place down and grind your corpses to dust!" Strength snarled. The emotions getting to her.

The dementors moved away a few metres.

Suddenly two of them surged forwards past Strength, she turned to see where they were going and saw them catching an emaciated man wearing nothing but rags. They hovered over him and she could feel the life starting to drain from the victim, without a thought she marched over to the two dementors and swiftly knocked them aside.

She picked the man up from the floor, but his body was limp. She could feel his heart beating, but he was completely unresponsive. It was then she realised, he had just received the dementors kiss. A virtual death sentence to those subjected to it.

"What did he do to deserve that!" Strength screamed at the dark creatures. "What the hell is wrong with you all?" She demanded as she unfurled her second set of Ogre Arms and proceeded to charge the swarm of floating dementors silently watching her.

Rock heard the commotion coming from above, the sounds of Strength yelling and then some very loud crashing that reverberated throughout the fortress. Rock needed to stop her before she brought the entire building down on top of them, and the pale Otherself doubted that even they could survive being buried under thousands of tonnes of stone.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **I was going to do the whole of the third task and the trip to Azkaban in one chapter, but sleep has not been kind to me as of late.**

 **No sympathy as it has been all my own doing.**

 **Don't own anything you have read here before you.**


	16. Chapter 16

Rock bounded up the narrow stone stairs, taking three at a time until she emerged at the same level that the loud crashing was coming from. She turned a corner and entered a large, square room littered with rubble. At the centre was Strength, fighting dozens of dementors with all four of her arms while wearing a look of rage upon her face. Cowering behind her were three people, two men and a woman. All three of them looked gaunt and haggard, desperately clinging onto Strength as she defended them.

Strength roared as the dementors pressed in to surround her, she grabbed a few of them and slammed them into the floor as she punched some away, sending them hurtling backwards into the wall behind them.

Rock ran into the fray with her katana raised, she leapt at the nearest and slashed downwards. It cracked the stone floor as it crumpled under the blow but otherwise remained in one piece, Rock took no notice of it as she used it as a springboard to dive towards another.

* * *

Cedric and Harry got to the cup at the same time, just evading the hedge behind them from trapping them. They stopped, supporting each other as they regained their breath.

"I think you should take it." Harry said. "You did help me with the golden egg clue."

"I had help with that." Cedric replied shaking his head. "You take it, besides you warned me about the dragons."

Harry pondered that for a moment, for a second he couldn't remember doing such a thing. Then he remembered, after he had the idea to summon his broom, he and Rock had run off to find Hermione. Along the way he had met Cedric, that was when he had told him.

"I had help with that myself. How about we grab it together?" Harry suggested.

"Either way it's a Hogwarts win." Cedric grinned, exhaustion shadowing his face.

Together they reached towards the cup.

* * *

"Don't look at me like that!" Strength growled. "I couldn't just leave them here, it was too much. And here I thought you were the one to do something stupid."

Rock shook her head as she fired her black metal wand at the nearest dementor, it was turning out to be a repeat of the previous year.

Strength seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Do you want to summon someone else to help you? Dead Master maybe." The shorter girl asked.

If it wasn't for another of the dark creatures swooping in from her left, Rock would've slapped Strength for that snide comment. Instead, she nodded towards the three prisoners.

"Right." Strength replied. She scooped up the three humans and chased after Rock as the pigtailed teen opened a way for them through the guardians of Azkaban.

* * *

Harry was pinned up against a tombstone, the solid granite arms of the statue perched on top holding him in a crushing embrace.

In front of him stood a tall deathly pale man, his red eyes bored into Harry and his mouth twisted into a triumphant sneer. Lord Voldemort, resurrected, standing mere centimetres away from the imprisoned boy.

"I can touch you now." Voldemort said in an icy voice. He extended a finger and held it on Harry's scar, sending a sharp, burning pain throughout Harry's body.

"Wormtail, your arm." Voldemort said, suddenly turning away from Harry.

"Oh thank you Lord." The second man said, holding out his arm which was missing the hand. He had cut it off himself as part of a ritual to give the dark wizard a new body.

Harry recognised him from his dream, the short rotund man who was cowering in fear from the unseen owner of the voice in the chair. It was a nightmare that Harry had continually had since just before the Quiddich World Cup.

"Your other arm." Voldemort said coldly.

Wormtail whimpered but held out his intact arm, Voldemort took his wand and pressed it into a tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of the mouth.

"What the hell?" Strength exclaimed as she was running.

* * *

Rock looked back but continued her pace.

"The three humans, they just vanished!" Strength said in disbelief.

* * *

Voldemort was surrounded by a large group of people clad in long, dark robes with skull masks. Only three were dressed separately, two men who Voldemort addressed as Mulciber and Dolohov and a woman who was referred to as Bellatrix.

Bellatrix muttered something to Voldemort which Harry couldn't make out, but it seemed to disturb him greatly.

"Otherselves, here? You're sure that's what you saw?" Voldemort asked quietly, his voice sent chills down Harry's spine. _How could he know about them when not even Dumbledore did?_ He asked himself.

Pain suddenly racked Harry's body, every muscle tensed as he screamed in agony. When it stopped, he saw a blurry image of the dark wizard pointing his wand at him.

"Crucio!" Voldemort cried in frustration, sending icy blades of fire through his nerves. Harry screamed again, his body violently convulsing.

Several of the Death Eaters chuckled at the sight and Voldemort himself smiled, seemingly in better spirits he released Harry from the statue and kicked over Harry's wand to him.

"You've been taught to duel, yes?" Voldemort asked as Harry struggled to get up.

Harry nodded tiredly.

* * *

Rock had been stopped and picked up off the floor mid-stride, she looked back at Strength with annoyance.

"Don't give me that look." Strength glowered. "I think Lupin is behind here." She pointed to the iron door to her right. "Hold them off while I grab him." She said.

Rock nodded, and after she was released she squeezed past Strength and pointed her wand down the partially destroyed corridor.

Strength had stopped trying to ease her way through the narrow pathways, instead she just forced her way through them.

She raised her fists and hammered the door off its hinges, causing it to slam into the far wall. Behind her Rock opened fire at the chasing dementors. Strength looked around the tiny cell and located a thin, gangly, hairless dog. It snarled at her as she moved towards it, slowly backing away in response one of her secondary arms reached out and grabbed the scared creature.

"Got him!" Strength yelled. "We're getting out of here!"

She punched her way through the buildings' interior walls, with Rock following closely keeping the dementors and other inmates from getting to near, until she breached the exterior. She jumped from the fortress onto the rocks below with the blue-eyed girl jumping after her.

* * *

"Can you bring my body back to my father?" The ghostly image of Cedric asked.

Harry nodded tearfully, two more ghosts spoke to him, this time it was his mother and father.

"It's time to go son, we'll buy you some time." The ghost of James Potter said.

"We're so proud of you." Lily Potter's ghost smiled.

Harry broke the connection between him and Voldemort and fled, not looking back he grabbed Cedric's body.

"Accio cup!" Harry cried, catching it as it hurled itself towards him. Everything started spinning madly and just as he thought he would be sick, he hit the ground just outside of the maze at Hogwarts.

* * *

Rock, Strength and an unconscious werewolf were back in the tiny row boat being magically propelled across the North Sea. Rock was scanning the sky for any signs that the dementors were chasing them and Strength was keeping an eye on the werewolf, ready to constrain him should he wake up.

"Next time we meet that old wizard, I'm gonna make him scrub the salt out of my knuckles." Strength grumbled, flexing her fingers. Then she noticed that Lupin's breathing had become very shallow.

"Hey, give me your jacket. I think he's getting hypothermia." The tanned Otherself said.

Rock took off her jacket and passed it to Strength who wrapped the werewolf in it. She hoped it would be enough as they still had many miles to travel.

* * *

A few days later and Rock and Strength had parted ways, Rock returned to Hogwarts and Strength carried on towards London with Lupin who was now in human form, he was still wrapped up in Rock's jacket which now was much too small on him. He resorted to tying it around his waist to protect his modesty until they were able to source some more clothes.

Rock entered the Griffindor common room, expecting celebrations to be continuing following the end of the Triwizard Tournament.

Instead, everyone was extremely subdued and quiet, she walked over to Harry who was very upset and being consoled by Hermione and Ron. Hermione noticed her first.

"Rock! Where have you been?" The bushy haired girl said with a hint of anger.

Rock shook her head in confusion.

"You-Know-Who has come back!" Ron told her.

Rock stared at him, still confused.

"Voldemort." Harry mumbled. "Voldemort is back."

Rock ignored the collective shudders of the room and immediately turned and left.

"What's wrong with her?" Ron muttered.

"She was sent here to stop him, remember?" Hermione said quietly. "And instead she missed it, if she was here then it could've all been over. She's probably angry at that."

"Oh crap, well I'd hate to get in her way." Ron gulped.

* * *

Rock stormed up to the headmasters' office, she summoned the Rock Cannon and blasted the gargoyle that blocked her way. Dumbledore barely looked up as she marched into his office.

"Miss Shooter, I take it you've heard?" Dumbledore said sadly, he looked tired.

Rock nodded, fire gleaming in her eye.

"Well I can tell you, if I have the slightest inkling that this would happen, I would've never sent you away to Azkaban." Dumbledore sighed.

Rock shook her head, she pointed the cannon at the elderly wizard. He had stopped her from killing Voldemort, stopped her from returning to Mato, her left eye started to throw sparks.

"Please calm down Miss Shooter, I'm just as annoyed as you, but nothing I do can change what has happened." The headmaster said from behind his snowy white beard.

Rock drew the Black Blade and stabbed it into his desk before jumping on top of it, the Rock Cannon pointed squarely at his face, her eye exploded into fire.

Dumbledore stood up and backed away, gripping his want beneath his robes.

"Black Rock Shooter!" The elderly wizard cried. "I can imagine how angry you are, but now is not the time. With Voldemort free, we need to be extra cautious!"

Rock walked across the desk, her face stoic sent chills down his spine. In desperation he quickly summoned long tendrils made out of wood with a flick of his wand, they grabbed each of Rock's limbs and held her fast. She struggled against them but Dumbledore summoned more, they grew out of the desk, wrapping around the previous tendrils and ensnaring more of Rock's body.

Only when she was completely unable to move did the headmaster speak again.

"We need to stick together, the whole world is in danger! We don't have time for petty squabbles." Dumbledore pleaded.

Rock's eye burnt brighter, flames a metre long flared above her and she strained against her bindings. A low creaking came from the wood and tiny cracks could be seen forming.

"Please, Miss Shooter. Harry has told me that Voldemort knows about your kind, it's possible that he also is aware of the connection between you and the ones you're bound to!" Dumbledore cried.

 _Mato!_ Rock stopped struggling, but the flames blazed brighter than they ever had before. Enough to light up the room in its entirety, her face twisted into a grimace as tiny flickers of purple started appearing.

"If we work together, we can stop him and protect everyone. But if you lose yourself then who's going to stop him?" Dumbledore said carefully. "More importantly, who's going to stop you if become _her_?"

The slim girl nodded as she fought a mental battle for control over her mind, it only took a few seconds but to the bearded wizard it seemed like a lifetime. Rock nodded calmly as the flames died out, and she relaxed.

Dumbledore released her with another flick of his wrist, and she stumbled backwards slightly.

"Over the summer." The old wizard said. "I'll have Harry stay with Miss Strength and Mr Lupin, I'll suggest that the Weasley's stay there as well for their own protection. I'd like you to stay here at the school so we can figure out what Voldemort may be up to, if that's okay?" He asked.

Rock nodded, she wasn't much for babysitting, especially as she had been sent here for a more important job.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So I've got a rough idea for the ending but cannot decide at this moment if it's going to be happy, sad or bittersweet.**

 **If any of you lovely people have any theories about how you think this might end then let me know when the story is complete, I'd like to know how predictable I've been.**

 **Also the timeline should start veering off substantially from here, I might have to start working at this!**

 **I don't own anything you see before you. The BRS Project is owned by other, more talented people, same goes for the Harry Potter franchise. And whatever you've been reading this on is either owned by you or someone else, who isn't me.**


	17. Chapter 17

Harry Potter was prowling around 12 Grimmauld Place like an enraged tiger, for weeks he had been unable to leave. With Voldemort resurrected and aggressively recruiting for his Death Eaters, Dumbledore had seen fit to relocate Harry and the Weasleys from the Burrow to the terraced house in London.

Both Harry had Dumbledore has spoken out about Voldemort returning, however the Ministry of Magic had suppressed the information, instead implying that the pair were just looking for attention by making up wild stories. Even turning over Alastor Moody, who in actuality was Barty Crouch Jr, a Death Eater fiercely loyal to Voldemort, had no effect on their stance.

Dumbledore had been confused at Voldemort's actions, he had expected the dark wizard to go into hiding to build his numbers in secret. What had happened instead was akin to a _blitzkrieg_ , a lightning war, dozens of Death Eaters would attack Ministry offices, local councils, even random towns and villages with a high population of wizards and witches and then retreat. The attacks were so sudden and close to each other in timing, that the Ministry were unable to do anything.

What made the attacks even worst was the number of people unaccounted for, taken either by force or willing joining Voldemort.

Although Strength denied it was possible, Harry had the feeling that the speed and brutality had something to do with Voldemort's knowledge of the Otherselves. It wasn't just in United Kingdom either, Death Eaters had been spotted as far away as China and Korea.

Harry sighed as made his way down the stairs towards the kitchen, frustration and anger filling him with every step he took.

To his surprise, Dumbledore and Rock were waiting for him. The old wizard wore a look of sorrow whereas Rock simply nodded.

"Professor, Rock, what are you doing here?" Harry asked in confusion, besides being told that he had to stay inside 12 Grimmauld Place he had had no contact with Hogwarts headmaster.

"Harry, I'm sorry I couldn't be here under happier circumstances." Dumbledore said, gesturing to a chair at the dining table.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, his stomach plummeting as he sat.

"It's your cousin, Dudley." Dumbledore said quietly. "He's had the dementor's kiss."

Harry looked blankly at him, why would a dementor go after Dudley?

"That's impossible." The green eyed boy stated. "He's a muggle not a wizard!"

"I know, but lately the dementors of Azkaban have been deserting their posts and venturing onto the mainland. Your cousin was only one of many to encounter them." Dumbledore said sadly.

Harry was stunned, although he had been subjected to years of torment and abuse at the hands of the offspring of Vernon and Petunia, he had no desire for anything like this to happen to him.

"It was about three days ago, there's nothing that could be done to help him." Dumbledore muttered.

"No, it can't be. It doesn't make any sense!" Harry said loudly, feeling sick.

"It doesn't." Dumbledore agreed. "From what I can tell though, it wasn't due to him knowing you, it was simply a case of 'wrong place, wrong time'."

"Why?" Harry demanded. "Why hasn't the Ministry done something?"

"They refuse to believe that it was a dementor, they're in denial. If the guards of Azkaban have gone rogue, then that adds more proof to the fact that Voldemort has returned."

Harry felt really sick.

Then he was.

* * *

"Well that went better than I thought it would." Dumbledore said quietly to Rock as they left the house.

Rock tilted her head quizzically, how did that go well?

"He could have not cared, or even worse, he could have been pleased. Harry reacting in such a way means that he still in touch with his humanity, he'll need that in the days to come." Dumbledore explained.

Rock nodded slowly, she understood what he meant but still didn't understand why collapsing into a heap over someone who had mentally and physically tortured someone for years was a good thing.

Dumbledore seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Don't worry about it, it's a human thing." The wizard with the long flowing beard said as he held out his arm.

Rock gripped the offered arm lightly and felt like she was being turned inside out.

The pair vanished from doorstep.

* * *

Harry passed the remaining few weeks with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George, trying to eavesdrop on the meeting the adults were having. Unfortunately, the real Alastor Moody, freed from the chest that contained him, had erected very powerful enchantment to prevent anyone from listening in. In addition to that, whenever they tried to use the Extendable Ears created by Fred and George, Hermione's bandy-legged cat Crookshanks kept playing with them.

After a while they gave up all together, instead relying on Ginny to prise the information from Strength. Which they knew she could as she still spent nearly all her time around the Otherself, learning how to contact her own Otherself.

As the door to the kitchen opened, there was a mad dash at the top of the stairs. The group split up rapidly, bumping into each other in their attempts to be elsewhere, resulting in Ron having a bloody nose from a collision with George, and Hermione getting a black eye from Ginny's head.

Alastor Moody grinned as he stomped towards the front door.

"Molly, you might wan' ta see to the kids." The ex-auror said.

* * *

Although Dumbledore asked that Strength protect Harry instead of Rock, she still maintained her patrol of Hogwarts while everyone else, including Rock, was inside the Great Hall. Quietly, she thanked Dumbledore for allowing her to not be inside the room. That amount of lust and frustration concentrated in such a small area tended to give her a headache, although adults posed less of a problem for some reason. Strength could only assume it was because adults had better control over their emotions.

Inside the Great Hall however, Rock was feeling uncomfortable. Instead of sitting with Harry and the others on the Griffindor table, she stood in the doorway at the far end near the teachers table. She couldn't help but feel that everyone was watching her instead of paying attention to Dumbledore, he was announcing that there was a new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

He was interrupted by a cough coming from a short, plump woman, dressed entirely in pink.

Rock tensed up, she doubted this woman would start any trouble, but her gut told her that the new addition to Hogwarts was bad news. She kept her hand hovering over the katana attached to her belt, ready to pounce at the first sign of danger.

Instead, the pink woman just talked about changes and the Ministry working closer with Hogwarts.

From what Rock understood from the speech, the Ministry of Magic was attempting to control and censor the school.

Was it possible that this was Voldemort's doing? She wondered. Did he have that much control already?

Impossible, it's only been a couple of months, there's no way it could happen that quickly, she reassured herself. According to Dumbledore, only Harry could stop Voldemort, something about a prophecy. That was why he wanted Rock to train him to use a sword, so he could defend himself if he ever lost his wand.

Rock thought it was pointless, although Harry was good for a human, he just wasn't quick or agile enough to protect himself from magic without a wand. She wondered if there was anything that could be done about it with magic. While she never understood what magic was, where it came from, or even how it worked, she had seen some odd things in the last two years. So surely there was some way of getting Harry to move faster, maybe she should ask Dumbledore.

During their summer together, the two of them had developed a rudimentary form of sign language that allowed Rock to talk. He had initially suggested that they have some sort of mental link, but Rock hadn't even considered it. He might have stumbled across memories that were hers and hers alone.

After all the announcements had ended and the feast was over, she walked over to the headmaster and accompanied him back to his office.

* * *

"What do you think is going on with Rock and Dumbledore?" Ron asked back in the common room.

"Not a clue." Harry answered shaking his head. "But it's gotta be something important to keep them locked up all summer."

"More than likely it's something to do with..." Hermione interjected, looking around nervously. "You-Know-Who." She whispered.

"You know, you could just ask me." Strength said, surprising them all as she walked over. "It's not a secret. Well, it is, but you're the only ones I can tell." She shrugged.

"So what is going on?" Harry asked.

"Simple, they're analysing all the recent Death Eater attacks and trying to find a pattern. If they can find one, then they should be able to work backwards from there and hopefully discover where they're coming from." Strength shrugged.

"Is that possible?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno." Strength shrugged again. "But Dumbledore's pretty smart and it helps that Black Rock Shooter is relentless and doesn't need to sleep, she hasn't stopped unless she has to."

"Have they found anything yet?" Harry asked excitedly.

Strength shook her head.

"It's a dead-end, there doesn't seem to be a pattern. It's constant and random to keep the Ministry off balance." Strength said sadly.

"So that's it? They're giving up?" Harry cried out angrily.

"On that idea, yeah." Strength replied calmly. "Like I said, it's a dead-end. But they're looking into the Ministry ties, seeing if there's any connection between them and Voldemort."

Ron and Hermione shivered at his name, Harry ignored them.

"How are they going to do that?" Harry asked.

"Well, did you not see the fat pink woman in the Great Hall? The new DADA teacher? She's from the Ministry." Strength told him.

"I doubt that she just going to let you question her." Hermione said.

"That's right, Black Rock Shooter is going to be joining you again for that class. She's going to be watching her." Strength explained.

"Not you?" Harry asked.

"I'm too noticeable." Strength grinned, holding her hands up. "Besides, the desks are too small for me."

"So when is our first lesson with her?" Ron asked, finally speaking up.

"Tomorrow." Hermione said, looking at her new timetable.

* * *

"Hey Strength!" Ginny called out from the stairs leading to the girls' dorm.

Everyone had gone to bed and the Otherself was about to leave the common room herself, either to patrol the corridors or watch the stars. She turned to see the redhead bound down the stairs.

"Ginny, what's up?" Strength grinned.

"I think I saw her!" Ginny said while bouncing up and down.

"Saw who?" The tanned girl asked.

"My Otherself!" Ginny replied, barely containing herself.

"What! Are you sure? What did she look like?" Strength asked hurriedly, getting as excited as Ginny.

"Well." The redhead breathed, trying to control her excitement. "She has long hair like mine, only it's a deeper much more intense red, like glowing coals or something." She spoke quickly, trying to get all the details out before she forgot them.

"What else?" Strength asked.

"The hair moved around on its own, slow but the tip moved quicker. It was like her hair was made from fire, but it hung down like hair. She was wearing this black corset thing with two red lines down each side, and on the back it looked like she had a pair of bird wings but they were made from bone." Ginny continued.

"I don't remember ever seeing her." Strength told her.

"She had long boots on that had black metal plates on the front, and a line of curved spikes on the back that were pointed upwards." Ginny said. "Oh, and she was holding what looked like a giant red axe."

"I've definitely never seen her, did you hear a name?" Strength asked.

"No, she didn't speak." Ginny asked sadly.

"She will, she probably wasn't aware of you. It can take awhile for both of you to connect." Strength smiled at her. "Now get some sleep, it's late."

Ginny ran up the stairs excitedly, and Strength continued to smile as she watched the redhead.

 _Hopefully this will make you focus on Harry again._ She thought.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Knight25 you are correct, the mass breakout of Azkaban happens in the fifth year. Last chapter had a smaller jail break, with only three Death Eaters joining Voldemort straight away and a few others also managing to escape I'm sure.**

 **As for wards, well I'm blaming that on Strength, she must have weakened them when she was trashing the place and punching dementors in the face. Or the wards are only on the cells. Whichever works.**

 **Ginny's Otherself won't be making an appearance in this story, Voldemort's knowledge of Otherselves will also be explained in future chapters.**

 **Gonna disappear for 'bout a week, be back later.**

 **Harry Potter, BRS Project are owned by other people not me.**


	18. Chapter 18

Before they could find out what sort of teacher the woman from the Ministry would be, they first had to get through Potions which was still Harry's least favourite subject. Professor Snape continued making thinly veiled insults to Harry and most of the other Griffindors, much to the amusement of the Slitherins in the dungeon.

Only Neville seemed to be safe from Snape's sharp tongue, aided as he was by Rock. The pair seemingly worked so well together that not even the tall, greasy-haired head of Slytherin could find any fault with their work. Although Neville still wore a look of perpetual fear whenever he was close to the slim, pale teen girl.

From across the room, Rock could make out Snape looming over Harry. He was commenting on the potion that was currently in Harry's cauldron, a large amount of grey steam was currently billowing out of the metal container.

She looked around the room, the only other person who had the specified silver vapour was Hermione, who, despite feeling sorry for Harry, looked immensely pleased with herself.

Harry looked furious as Snape made the concoction within Harry's cauldron disappear with a flick of his wand and strode off.

* * *

Still grumbling about Snape's unfairness earlier in the day, Harry prepared himself for this new teacher from the Ministry of Magic.

After the whole class had sat down quietly, not knowing how strict she was going to be, the pink woman spoke.

"Good afternoon everyone!" The woman said.

A few mumbled replies came from the class.

"Well, that won't do, will it?" The woman frowned. "One more time please, and I would like you all to answer with, 'good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.'"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." The class chanted back at her.

"Good, now put your wands away and get your quills and ink out." Umbridge said sweetly.

Everyone groaned as they put their wands away, Rock dispelled hers with a thought and the brief flash of blue caught Umbridge's eye. She strode over to Rock.

"What was that just now?" Professor Umbridge asked with a stern edge to her sickly sweet voice.

Rock demonstrated summoning her cannon in wand form and dispelling it immediately after.

"I never gave you permission to cast any spells, what's your name?" Umbridge demanded.

"Professor." Harry interjected. "Her name's Rock, she can't speak." Informed her.

"Really? I find that hard to believe." Umbridge said suspiciously. "Give me your wand, you can have it back at the end of class." She held out her hand.

Rock hesitated slightly, but summoned her wand cannon and handed it over. The short pink woman nearly dropped it as it was much heavier than she was expecting, but she returned to the front of the class.

"Up until now your lessons in this subject have left a lot to be desired, however that is going to change and a Ministry approved teaching plan is going to bring you up to the level you are expected to be at in your O.W.L year." Umbridge stated.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other uncertainly.

"Now if you could please take out your copies of _Defensive Magical Theory_ , turn to page five and start reading." Umbridge told them.

Rock didn't bother opening the book, she had already gone through it and knew there was nothing inside that would teach them anything. It turned out she was not the only one who thought so as Hermione also didn't have her book open and was sitting bolt upright with her hand in the air.

"Your name?" Umbridge asked when she finally noticed the girl.

"Hermione Granger, Professor I've already read through this book and there's nothing on actually using defensive spells." Hermione stated.

"Using spells?" The pink woman giggled. "Why on earth would you need to use spells in my classroom?"

"But what about outside the school? What if we're attacked?" Hermione asked.

"Who would possibly be attacking schoolchildren?" Umbridge asked with a faint look of amusement.

"I don't know." Harry blurted. "How about Lord Voldemort?"

Everyone gasped, a few let out a small scream, Umbridge's face dropped.

"Detention Potter." Umbridge said, deadly serious. "Take this note to Professor McGonagall." She said as she wrote.

* * *

"Mr Potter, why aren't you in class?" Professor McGonagall asked as Harry walked into her office.

"Professor Umbridge sent me here." Harry told her as he handed over the note.

"Sit down Potter." McGonagall said.

Harry sat down at her desk, just as McGonagall was about to sit down, her door opened again. This time Rock walked in holding another note.

"You too?" McGonagall sighed. "Very well, let me see". She said holding her hand out.

Rock walked over and gave her the note from Umbridge, after a few minutes, the elderly witch looked up at both of them.

"You've been given detention every night this week." McGonagall explained. "Potter you insinuated that You-Know-Who is back and Miss Shooter, you displayed threatening behaviour and were in possession of a deadly weapon?"

Harry gaped at Rock who simply nodded and displayed the katana sheathed underneath her robes, the handle was just poking out from the folds of cloth.

"Well, I know you're not really a student and we have no say in what you do, but for the sake of appearances I'd suggest you go along. I'll inform Professor Dumbledore on your behalf." McGonagall said.

Rock nodded her thanks and left.

"Potter, you can't just go around telling everyone that You-Know-Who is back, or even hint at it." The Professor said, she held up a hand to stop him from interrupting. "I believe you, as does Professor Dumbledore, however the Ministry is doing everything they can to deny it, and having Umbridge here means you have to be more careful. You understand that everything she sees or hears will get reported back."

Harry nodded glumly.

"I think we're done here." McGonagall said gently. "Help yourself to a biscuit and get back to your classes."

* * *

"So you got detention?" Strength asked with a smile.

Rock nodded with a slightly confused look on her face.

"Hermione told me, apparently you caused quite the ruckus!" Strength giggled.

Rock dropped her head, Umbridge had accused her of stealing her wand back. The short dumpy woman had no way of knowing that Rock's cannon would disappear on its own after a short while if Rock didn't concentrate on keeping it manifested. She had told Rock to stand and saw the Black Blade sticking out of her robes, which had escalated the incident as Umbridge had attempted to take the blade off her.

Rock had reacted instinctively to that, she had drawn the weapon in a flash and had it pointed towards the chubby neck of Umbridge.

"You need to control yourself." Strength told the skinny teen. "It's just going to make our job harder if we're under constant suspicion from anyone who might have any connection to Voldemort."

Rock nodded, she already knew this, but it was hard to overcome her nature. She didn't know how Strength seemed to do it so easily.

"Hey, remember I used to live in this world?" Strength said. "It's also not hard to know what you're thinking." She grinned.

Rock shook her head in annoyance.

"Don't give me that, you're going to be late for your detention!" Strength teased.

Rock turned away to leave, the tiniest of blue flames sparked out of her eye.

* * *

Harry and Rock met each other outside Professor Umbridge's office, hesitantly, Harry knocked on the door.

"Come in." Said Umbridge's sickly sweet voice.

Harry opened the door and walked into a world of pink, everything from the carpet and walls to the furniture was a various shade of pink.

"Ahh, Mr Potter, and you." Umbridge said, her eyes narrowing at Rock. "It's time for your punishment."

"What are we going to be doing?" Harry asked.

"Lines, but you're going to be using to very special quills." Umbridge smiled sweetly. She reached into her desk and pulled out several sheets of parchment and two large quills, she handed one to Harry and the other to Rock and gave them both parchment. She gestured to a small round table with two chairs under it.

"Now, Mr Potter, I want you to write, 'I will not tell lies', and you." Umbridge said glaring at Rock. "I want you to write, 'I will never carry weapons, and I will respect my betters.'" She snarled.

"How many times?" Harry asked.

"Until the message sinks in." Umbridge said menacingly.

The pair began to write, almost immediately after writing the first line Harry noticed the back of his hand itching. He looked down and the words 'I must not tell lies.' were cut into his skin, as though by a scalpel. Although they healed in a few seconds, leaving nothing but a very faint red outline. He looked at what he had written and the ink seemed to be blood.

Rock was having the same experience, only her quill was ejecting blue ink like an airbrush with a very fine nozzle.

They looked at each other but neither wanted to say anything, instead they carried on. Occasionally, Harry let out a small hiss or whimper of pain but forced himself to ignore it, not wanting show weakness.

Eventually, Umbridge stood up from her desk and walked over to the pair. She smiled when she saw Harry's hand, but her face dropped when she looked at Rock.

"What is the meaning of this?" Umbridge demanded, snatching the parchment Rock was writing on.

Rock looked up in confusion, had she not been told to write lines with the quills provided?

"Where is the quill I gave you?" Umbridge shouted.

Rock held up the quill in her hand.

"Nonsense, you won't mind if you swap with Potter's then?" The pink woman said with a sneer.

She snatched the quill and swapped them over, this time she stood over Rock as she continued to write the specified words. Umbridge's smiled was wiped from her face as she saw a fine jet of blue ink shoot from the tip of the quill as the pale teen wrote, the short woman looked at Rock's hand and saw blue words being scored into her skin by an unseen force, but they disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

So quickly in fact that there wasn't even time to form complete letters.

"What, are, you?" Umbridge asked quietly.

"What's wrong Professor?" Harry asked, trying to hide a smirk.

"Get out of here now! Both of you!" Umbridge yelled.

Harry and Rock didn't wait to be told twice, as they hurried out of the room, Rock could hear Umbridge say something about the Minister hearing about this.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Hopefully this chapter makes some sense, brain is still on holiday.**

 **BRS Project and the Harry Potter franchise are owned by their respective owners. (i.e not me)**


	19. Chapter 19

The next few days were extremely taxing on Harry, because of the detentions with Umbridge, he had even less time to complete his homework. He had to skip breakfast and also work through lunchtime to even have a hope of finishing it.

It also didn't help that nearly every class gave him more homework to do, Harry was starting to believe that he would never be able to finish it all by the time the O.W.L exams at the end of the year came about.

Rock had also disappeared, he only saw her during Defence Against the Dark Arts class and detention. Apart from those times however she remained locked in Dumbledore's office working on who knows what.

Umbridge's reaction to Rock was also puzzling Harry. At first she treated her like any other student, but then she had witnessed Rock's extreme healing abilities as well as her blue blood. Since then, the short, dumpy woman refused to even acknowledge the teenager, only a slight snarl curling the corners of her mouth gave any indication that Umbridge knew about Rock's existence.

Harry sighed as he walked to the last detention with that horrible woman, he absent-mindedly scratched the back of his hand. The words, _I must not tell lies_ , deeply scored into his flesh by repeated uses of that 'special' quill of hers. A sharp pain shot through his skull starting from the scar on his forehead, the infamous lightning bolt scar that he had had since before he could remember. He balled his hand into a fist and punched the wall next to him in anger, he barely felt the impact and cricked his neck before continuing his journey.

 _I hate that woman._ He thought.

* * *

Rock and Strength were sitting on top of the Ravenclaw tower roof, the location provided them the perfect view into Umbridge's office so they could keep an eye on Harry. Although Strength was less than convinced that Harry was the one who could stop Voldemort, she had to admit that bad things seemed to be attracted to him.

"If she's so bad, why can't we get rid of her?" Strength asked as she watched Harry start another line.

Rock shook her head, she didn't know if that woman from the Ministry of Magic had any connection to Voldemort. Even if she didn't, the dark wizard certainly had other contacts within the organisation. Forcing her to leave would potentially notify him that they were making move to confront him.

At least that was what Dumbledore had told her when she had suggested it.

"Let me guess, Dumbledore said no?" Strength said sighing.

Rock nodded in confirmation.

"Then we're stuck with her, at least for the moment." The Otherself said, flexing her immense metal hands. "I'm going to patrol the castle again, that Filch person couldn't fight his way out of one of Chariot's macaroons." She chuckled.

Rock didn't respond, instead she kept watching Harry, secretly hoping that Dumbledore wasn't wrong about him.

* * *

"What the hell is this!" Hermione gasped, quickly clearing a space on the Griffindor table to lay down that days' newspaper.

"What?" Harry asked as he took another bite of toast.

"Umbridge!" Hermione cried. "She's been made Hogwarts High Inquisitor!"

"What the hell is one of those?" Ron asked, peering over the bushy haired girl's shoulder.

Hermione quickly skimmed through the rest of the article in the Daily Prophet.

"It means that she can inspect the teachers, and, I'm assuming, determine whether they are fit to teach." Hermione explained. "In short, she has the power to get rid of any teacher here!"

* * *

Rock was standing outside the Great Hall reading a sign that had been nailed to the wall.

"Educational Decree 24." Said Dumbledore, silently approaching from behind her. "It seems that your secret is out."

Rock nodded slowly, not looking at him, attempting to connect the dots.

"There are two possible explanations, I'd like to go through both of them if it's okay with you?" Dumbledore asked politely.

Rock nodded again, this time turning to face the elderly wizard.

"Now I'm sure both of these have entered your thoughts. First, Voldemort is aware of your presence, and more importantly, he knows of the Otherselves. Now this decree may be a way of removing you from Hogwarts and out into the open, exposing yourselves to attack." The headmaster said.

Rock stared at him intently.

"The second is slightly more benign, although still unacceptable. Dolores Umbridge has a known hatred of, shall we say those who aren't entirely human. And while you aren't human besides your appearance, she wouldn't know that and would assume that you are." Dumbledore continued.

The slim, pale girl nodded in agreement, she had had both of those thoughts. She was struggling to make any obvious connection to Voldemort that would constitute a lead however.

"For the time being, I would leave. Both you and Miss Strength should go to London, maybe check on our friend who you picked up?" Dumbledore suggested.

Rock shook her head, that would mean abandoning her mission, now matter for how short a time. Last time she did that, Harry had faced Voldemort and a Death Eater was inside the castle grounds.

"Very well, I cannot make you do anything that you do not want to do." Dumbledore smiled sadly. "However I would ask you to be careful, and stay out of sight as much as possible."

She nodded, under the circumstances, it would be for the best. She could stay inside the Room of Requirement, so that Harry could continue with training.

The wizard with the snowy white beard closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly before leaving Rock to her thoughts.

Rock turned back to the notice and read it again, a frown slowly worked it's way onto her face.

* * *

"It's getting bad out there." Lupin said. "The Death Eaters are starting to attack muggles now as well."

Christmas was closing in and the gang were back at 12 Grimmauld Place to celebrate, Fred and George had hidden themselves upstairs. Ginny was also absent from the kitchen, she was attempting to contact her own Otherself through meditation. So it was Harry, Ron, Hermione, Strength and the two heads of the Weasley household who were discussing the current activities of the Death Eaters with Remus Lupin. Although Mrs Weasley disapproved of involving the students, she was voted down by Lupin and Mr Weasley.

Hermione squeaked and Harry gasped.

"How has it got so bad so quickly?" Harry asked.

"Something has got You-Know-Who spooked." Mr Weasley replied, looking at Strength.

"What?" Strength said in surprise.

"Nothing, except that two teenagers broke into the most fortified and dangerous place in the world, without magic I might add." Lupin smiled gently. "That would be an impressive task for a group composed of twenty highly trained aurors."

"Well it's not like we're exactly human, to be honest I'm not entirely sure of what we are." Strength replied.

"Aren't straying off the subject?" Hermione interrupted.

"You're right, as always." Lupin grinned.

"So what else is going on?" Ron asked.

"There's not much more information to go on at the moment, all we know is that the attacks are becoming more frequent." Lupin answered sadly.

"It's nearly everyday now." Mr Weasley added.

"How can the Ministry deny this is happening?" Hermione cried in outrage.

"The Minister is more concerned about Dumbledore, he's convinced that he wants to take over." Mr Weasley said.

Harry, Ron and Hermione gaped at Mr Weasley.

"Whatever gave him that idea?" Strength asked for them.

Mr Weasley and Lupin looked at each other.

"We can't be sure but we suspect that he may be under the Imperious Curse, it's the only explanation." Mr Weasley said quietly, as though to hide the statement from prying ears.

"But who could be doing it?" Harry asked.

"Who do you think?" Lupin whispered.

"How?" Harry asked. "I mean it's not like he's conspicuous."

"We're not sure, but with the attacks and the Ministry's stance, it may be safer if you stayed at Hogwarts from now on." Lupin told them.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"I mean you three, Ginny, Fred and George should stay at Hogwarts permanently. Don't go home, and don't come back here." Mr Weasley explained.

"No!" Ron exclaimed. "Dad, you can't mean that. Who could find this place?"

"It's for the best." Mrs Weasley said sadly, finally speaking. She had known of this arrangement for some time as she and her husband had discussed it, heatedly for many weeks.

"Mum, you can't do this!" Ron cried out.

Mrs Weasley shook her head and left the room, sobbing gently as she closed the door.

"It wasn't an easy decision to come to, Molly still isn't happy about it. It may only be for a few weeks or it could be for several years, that's why it's so hard to tell you this." Mr Weasley said sadly.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were stunned into silence, Strength simply nodded.

"They're right, Hogwarts is the safest place for you. Even with all the magical protection in the world, this place is a deathtrap if exposed." The Otherself said, rationalising it for them.

"You can't be taking their side!" Ron demanded.

"Look." Strength sighed. "Rock was sent here for a reason, that was to stop Voldemort. Rock summoned me to help her in that mission. And while none of you are more important than the ones we love, I have no desire to see any of you die." She looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry if that sounds like I don't care, but that's the truth."

Another stunned silence.

"Strength's right, this is an extremely dangerous time. Just the other day someone was attacked at the Ministry, it looked like he was bitten by a large snake." Mr Weasley said. "It was lucky I had to be here to help keep Remus locked up during his transformation."

Harry looked up in surprise.

"R-really?" Harry asked. "I had a dream like that, it was weird, like I was the snake."

Lupin gave him a concerned look but didn't comment further.

"Well then, I think it's time to call it a night." Mr Weasley said, catching Lupin's expression. "We'll talk about this later."

The finality of Mr Weasley's statement told them they would be getting no more information out of him and they slowly made their way to bed.

* * *

Dumbledore was pacing his office with urgency, on his desk was the morning edition of the Daily Prophet.

"Have you seen this?" The Hogwarts headmaster asked, pointing to the newspaper as Rock entered.

Rock shook her head, having only just come down from the astronomy tower roof. She walked over to the paper and began reading, when she finished she looked up at Dumbledore.

"A mass breakout of Azkaban!" Dumbledore said quietly. "If our estimates are correct, then another fifty Death Eaters could be on their way to join Voldemort. That's could be more if the dementors have joined him as well."

 _He's practically got an army, he could attack anywhere and simply overwhelm them!_ Rock thought.

"Not only that but Hagrid as returned, he tells me that the giants have also sworn their allegiance to Voldemort as well. Poor old Hagrid barely escaped with his life, he's still in hospital." Dumbledore said sadly looking tired.

Rock didn't respond.

"And to top it off, the Ministry could be under his control. Umbridge is being granted more and more power, I heard this morning that she going to be evaluating the students to make sure that they are true wizards and witches. All muggle-borns are to be expelled and detained, I'm blocking that as much as I can but there's only so much I can do." The elderly wizard said, finally stopping his pacing and slumped in his chair.

He leaned forwards and picked up the newspaper.

"I doubt there is anything I can do from here anyway, I'm going to have to go down in person." Dumbledore said, defeat etched in the deep wrinkles of his face.

Rock nodded slowly, she pointed two fingers towards her eyes then swept them in front of her.

Dumbledore smiled slightly.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out for trouble. You stay here and protect the students here, your compatriot will be joining you in a few days." Dumbledore told her.

He stood up and walked out to the balcony, he glanced back and offered Rock a smiled before disapparating.

* * *

"I don't care where she is, I want someone to find her!" A cold voice screamed.

"But my Lord, we are looking for one girl in a population of billions! It will take some time!" Another voice said, the fear evident in his voice.

"Master, allow me to find the girl." A woman said, not in fear but adoration.

"Very well, do not fail me." The cold voice warned.

"Sire, judging from the picture you created for us, I'd say she's Japanese." A fourth voice said.

The woman picked up the picture and studied it carefully. It showed a girl perhaps 15 or 16 years old, she had long black hair with two pigtails and bright blue eyes with white rings.

"Remember, her eyes will be different, so may her hair, but her face will be the same. When you find her, do not hurt of injure her in any way. Bring her straight back." The cold voice said in a tone that invited no argument.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Think we're getting towards the end now.**

 **Educational Decree 24 states that no half humans can be enrolled in a school of magic.**

 **Harry didn't recognise the person being attacked by Nagini, that's why he didn't report it as he was sure it was a nightmare.**

 **And someone is in for a very bad day.**

 **BRS Project and the Harry Potter franchise are not owned by me.**

 **Peace out.**


	20. Chapter 20

"So how long has he been missing for?" Lupin asked.

"Two weeks, Black Rock Shooter was the last person to see him. He was going to the Ministry apparently." Strength answered.

"This isn't good." Mr Weasley muttered slumping down in his chair.

"It's not." Lupin agreed. "But he wouldn't have gone without a good reason."

"Should we tell the others?" Strength asked.

"No, it would only worry them. Best it's kept between the four of us." Mr Weasley answered.

Lupin and Strength nodded solemnly.

* * *

"Holy hell!" Ron shouted.

"What!" Said Harry and Hermione simultaneously.

"Dumbledore has been arrested! Look!" Ron cried, spinning the newspaper around to face them.

The pair leant over to read the article. Hermione turned very pale while Harry went numb.

"How can they accuse him of being a terrorist? How can they forget everything he's done?" Hermione said, outraged. "They can't do this!"

"They can." Harry said quietly, looking crestfallen. "I think this proves that Voldemort is in control, and with Dumbledore out of the way, not even Hogwarts is safe any more."

"What's the matter Potter?" Draco said from behind him. "Getting scared without that fool of an old man around?" he sneered.

"Take that back!" Harry bellowed as he stood up. The entire of the Great Hall turned to see who had shouted, only to see Harry and Draco stood nose to nose.

"What's wrong, Potter? Scared to start something?" Draco teased. He quickly scanned the large room. "There're no teachers here, take your best shot!"

The tall, platinum blonde boy had barely finished his sentence when Harry punched him in the gut. Draco let out a groan, and Crabbe and Goyle, ever by Draco's side, pulled him out of the way and swung for Harry.

Harry however, saw the two fists coming towards him. He threw himself backwards, falling onto the bench situated next to the long table that ran the length of the Great Hall. He pushed himself forwards and planted his knuckles into the side of Crabbe's face, while the larger boy was off balance from missing his own punch. Goyle had recovered quicker and grabbed Harry from behind, he punched the bespectacled boy in the kidneys, causing him to stagger forwards.

With a hiss of pain, Harry straightened up. He used Goyle's own momentum against him, nipping past him and pushing him into the table where he nearly landed on Hermione.

"What is all this?" A flowery, sweet voice demanded.

The four of them froze, like rabbits in headlights, and turned to see Umbridge striding towards them.

"Professor, Harry attacked us!" Draco said quickly.

"Wait, what?" Harry cried.

"Causing trouble again?" Umbridge sighed. "A weeks' detention I think." She walked away, with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle following her.

Harry cricked his neck and his mouth curled up into a snarl.

"Thanks for looking out for me!" Harry snapped at Hermione and Ron.

"I'm sorry Harry but you didn't get chance to read the rest of the article. Umbridge is going to be evaluating every student's blood status." Hermione said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Harry asked angrily.

"It means that everyone who is muggle-born is going to be expelled." Hermione said, tears starting to swell in her eyes. "And they're getting detained, 'for the betterment of wizarding kind'."

"They can't do that! People would be in uproar!" Ron shouted.

"They can and they have, the Ministry has been corrupted and the people are powerless to stop it!" Hermione replied. "Any that defy them are arrested."

"Bloody hell." Ron said after allowing her words settle in.

"Yeah, it's bad." Hermione agreed.

The three of them stood in silence for a long while, each of them reflecting how quickly things have gone from good to bad.

"Hey, Harry, how did you manage to do that in the fight?" Ron asked eventually, changing the subject.

"Huh?" Harry said in confusion. "Do what?"

"Move so quickly, you were almost a blur!" Ron exclaimed.

"I was? It didn't seem like it, I was just reacting on instinct. I guess those sessions with Rock are finally paying off." Harry smiled slightly.

"You know, I'm intrigued to find out what she's teaching you." Hermione said while continuing to read the newspaper.

"Well I'm sure you could tag along on day, but I never know when she's going to grab me." Harry answered.

* * *

It turned out that they were going to be able to see Harry and Rock in action a lot sooner than they all thought. Later that evening, the three friends were returning to Griffindor tower when they saw Rock standing at the end of the corridor.

Rock tilted her head to the side.

"I was wondering if Ron and Hermione could sit in with us?" Harry asked.

Rock thought for a moment, then nodded. She turned away and led the group to the Room of Requirement.

Inside, Ron and Hermione were amazed at the size of the room, it was almost as large as the Great Hall and nearly the entire length of the floor, barring the first three metres from the door, was covered in a thin foam mat. Thick enough to prevent serious injuries but only just, any impact still hurt and Harry nearly always had bruises on his body from being thrown to the floor.

"I'm still not very good, so don't laugh okay?" Harry requested with a nervous laugh.

"We won't Harry, don't worry." Hermione reassured him.

"Unless you're really bad, then you deserve it." Ron teased.

"Thanks." Harry replied sarcastically. He walked over to the nearest wall, taking his shirt off as he went, and grabbed a short sword. As he came back over, he noticed Ron and Hermione looking at him with amused looks.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Nothing." Ron smirked.

Harry shook his head and faced Rock who had already drawn her sword. The katana was pointed towards him, the razor-sharp edge gleamed in the low lighting. He gripped his wand firmly in one hand and the short sword in the other, he braced himself for Rock to make the first move.

When she attacked, Harry barely had time to blink. She was on him in a second, slashing the Black Blade across his chest. Harry, however, had deflected the blow with his wand. A small, blue bubble had encased both the wand and his arm for a split-second, just long enough for Harry to raise his arm and know away the dangerous blow. At the same time he thrust forwards with his own blade, only for it to sail harmlessly through open air.

Rock had sidestepped the attack and brought her weapon down on top of Harry's head, the flat edge slapped his scalp with a twang and Rock stepped back.

"Oww!" Harry moaned, bringing his wand hand up to rub his sore head.

A burst of laughter came from the direction of the spectators, Harry looked over in annoyance and saw Ron rolling on the floor in hysterics.

Hermione however was sitting with her mouth open not saying anything.

"Something funny?" Harry asked with irritation.

"No, it's just... You were terrible! That must have lasted five seconds!" Ron howled.

Rock stalked forward and picked Ron off the floor.

"Err, sorry?" Ron yelped.

She stood him up and indicated to Harry he should give Ron his weapon, Harry complied with a smirk. He passed Ron the sword.

Ron gulped nervously, he shakily took his own wand out of his pocket and pointed it towards Rock.

Harry sat down next to Hermione.

"I don't know why I'm sitting down." Harry muttered to Hermione with a smile. "Ron's going to be on his back before he even knows it."

"How did..." Hermione was interrupted by a dull thud. She looked over at Ron and found him on his back, with Rock standing over him, blade pointed at his throat.

Harry roared with laughter.

"I know I was just as bad at first." Harry chortled. "But that is funny!"

Hermione suppressed a snigger.

"How did you do that with the shield charm?" The bushy-haired girl asked. "You didn't even need to cast it."

"Lupin instructed me on how to cast basic spells just by thinking them, and Dumbledore created a variation of the shield charm that's simpler to create. It only protects a small area though." Harry told her, still giggling at Ron's embarrassing defeat. "I've had a lot of practice at getting it right!" He said, nodded towards Rock who was helping Ron to his feet.

Harry stood up himself and slapped Ron on the arm as he passed.

"Don't worry, I did worse on my first attempt!" Harry smiled.

Ron felt a little better and joined Hermione to watch the rest of the session.

* * *

After two hours, Harry was dripping with sweat and lying on his back having been put there by the pale Otherself. The last sparring match had been Harry's most successful yet, trading blows with the otherworldly girl for a whole minute before she threw him down to the floor.

"That's, cheating, you, sped, up." Harry panted.

Rock looked down at him and tilted her head.

"What does he mean 'sped up'?" Ron asked quietly to Hermione who was staring in fascination at Rock.

Harry slowly sat up, his arms visibly shaking.

"She slows herself down for me, but she's still faster than most people." Harry explained, still breathing heavily.

"That was slow?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yep." Harry replied struggling to get up.

Rock leant down and offered a hand to Harry, who gratefully took it. She pulled him up and steadied him. After a few seconds, when he could support himself, she took his sword and hung it back on the wall, grabbing a towel from a nearby table as she returned. She passed Harry the towel who began ridding himself of the sweat clinging to him.

She patted Harry on the back and headed towards the door, passing Ron and Hermione who stared at her.

"Come on." Harry said tiredly. "We should head back, I'm knackered." He picked his shirt off the floor where he'd left it and joined Rock by the door. Ron and Hermione followed suit and when Rock was sure they wouldn't be seen, they left the room.

"That was incredible!" Hermione blurted out as they walked through the castle. "How did you manage to move so fast?" She asked.

"I had to learn how to attack and defend, and commit it to muscle memory. Thinking is too slow, even when you can recall it perfectly." Harry explained, remembering Strength's advice.

"That's how you managed to fight Crabbe and Goyle at the same time?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded.

"I was surprised by how slow they seemed to be honest, I thought it was just because they were big." Harry admitted.

"No you were just very quick." Hermione said.

"That's good, Rock doesn't let me know how I'm doing. It still feels like I'm barely making any headway." Harry sighed. "But I suppose it was just to get me to keep working."

Rock turned her head to the side so she could see him from her position at the head of the group, she nodded then turned back to lead the group down the corridors.

"Harry! You've missed your detention with that Umbridge woman!" Hermione gasped.

"Hermione, I'm too tired to care. I just want to sleep." Harry said exhaustedly.

* * *

"So Harry finally knows how good he's gotten." Strength stated to Rock. "Think it'll affect him?" She asked.

Rock looked up at the stars and shook her head, she didn't think he could improve much more. He was already at the limit of what his body could cope with, now it was just a case of improving his endurance.

"It's finally happening isn't it?" Strength said, also now looking at the stars. "After all this time, we're so close to going home."

Rock didn't want to admit it, even to herself, but she had a feeling that something very bad was going to happen. She didn't know to who or when, but it was a gut-wrenching feeling that she would never leave this place. Maybe it was just the aura of despair that seem to permeate everything lately, or maybe it was because she was growing to be fond of this place. She was in the human world after all, maybe, when this was all over, she could go and meet Mato in person.

She smiled inwardly, and a warm feeling filled her, dispelling the previous feeling. She would still return to her own world, it was her duty and also where she belonged. She wanted to return home, but that didn't mean she had to leave right away did it?

She suddenly became aware of Strength smiling at her, and frowned slightly.

"You forget who I am, Black Rock Shooter, I know what you're thinking." Strength said with an almost sad smile. "You should go see her, I know that she would like it as well."

It was then that Rock realised why Strength seemed sad, Yuu lived several thousand miles away from where they currently were. There was no way a girl with giant metal hands could make the journey without being noticed, whereas herself could pass as human.

Just then a thought crept into her head, it was a long shot but she would be able to do it. It all depended on how everything ends.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Filler chapter while I work out the accelerated timeline in a way that seems even slightly plausible.**

 **BRS Project and Harry Potter franchise are not owned by me in any way.**

 **Peace out**


	21. Chapter 21

**The few sentences that include and , are translations from the original language.**

* * *

Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet with evident disgust when Harry and Ron entered the common room.

"Have you read this?" Hermione demanded, waving the morning issue of the newspaper in their faces.

"No, Hermione, we haven't." Harry said tiredly. "We've only just woken up."

"Well four whole villages have gone missing and Umbridge has been made headmaster of Hogwarts." Hermione retorted angrily.

"What!" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"I've been talking with those of us with muggle parents over the last few days, we've decided to get out of Hogwarts while we can." Hermione said grimly.

"That's insane!" Ron blurted out.

"It's not." Hermione sighed. "Haven't you noticed that there are fewer students here?"

"I was wondering why it seemed so quiet, especially when O. coming up." Harry admitted.

"Exactly, and with Umbridge now in charge of the school it's only going to get worse. So there are a few of us that are going to sneak out in a few days time, I don't know where we're going to go yet." Hermione said sadly.

"You know you can always stay at number 12." Harry reminded her.

"I can't just let everyone else have nowhere else to go, and there's not enough room at number 12 for all of us. We'll work something out though." Hermione muttered, tearing up slightly.

She ran out of the room, offering a muted 'I'm sorry' as she left. Harry and Ron looked at each other, each had a sickening look of worry on their face.

"It's getting bad isn't it?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, it is." Harry replied.

* * *

"So even now we still have no idea where Voldemort is?" Harry asked Lupin who flinched at the name. They were currently talking through the Griffindor common room fireplace, Lupin's head appearing as a moving pile of logs.

"No sorry Harry, even with all the disappearances, hundreds of people taken from all over the world. We still don't know where he is, only that he's getting more and more followers." Lupin told a despondent Harry. "We think he has amassed an army of several thousands, and we still don't know how to defeat him. The only person who might is currently imprisoned."

"Couldn't Rock and Strength break him out? Like they did with you?" Harry asked.

"No, we don't know where he is, he's not in Azkaban. We know that for sure." Lupin replied.

"So we've got no choice but to wait for Voldemort to come to us." Harry muttered.

"I'm afraid so Harry, you must understand that despite everything that's going on there. Hogwarts is still the safest place for you." Lupin reminded him.

"Yeah, it's safe enough. As long as you're not muggle-born." Harry said bitterly.

"Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about that. Our numbers are too few, any attempt to block that decree would have meant more of us in prison." Lupin said sadly.

"I just don't know what to do, I've got this horrible feeling that Voldemort is coming for me and there's nothing I can do about it." Harry despaired.

Lupin's eyes shifted around the room.

"What? What is it?" Harry asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Arthur told me yesterday that the whole of the Department of Mysteries was shut down and no one was allowed access to it." Lupin said uncertainly, as though he thought Harry shouldn't know about this.

"So what?" Harry asked.

"There is a section of the Department of Mysteries that houses every prophecy that has been made, one of them tells of a boy born on the 28th of the seventh month. The Dark Wizard shall mark him as his equal, and neither may live while the other survives." Lupin paused. "That's the quick version, I don't remember it in full."

Harry felt sick.

"That means that one of us has to die for the other to live?" Harry asked.

"It does." Lupin confirmed. "But is doesn't say if you have to kill each other or if someone else can."

Harry got up and ran to the bathroom, ignoring Lupin's cries behind him. He reached the toilet and threw up.

How could he be expected to kill, to take a life? Although Lupin had said that it might not mean he had to be the one to do it, it still meant a life had to end before this would end. Simply being in prison wouldn't be enough, someone had to die.

Harry wiped his mouth and washed his face and hands in the sink before looking at himself in the mirror, he cricked his neck.

 _That bastard is the one who_ _'_ _s going to die!_ He thought.

* * *

A tall woman with thick, long black hair battered open the doors to Malfoy Manor, behind her, suspended in mid-air was a teenage girl. She walked through the grand house before entering a large dining hall, all the occupants turned to face her.

"Is that her?" A tall bald man asked, his face was pale and translucent, devoid of any nose, instead he had two narrow slits for his nostrils along with thin lips and red eyes.

"Yes my Lord." The woman, Bellatrix Lestrange declared proudly.

Voldemort stepped towards the girl and with a flick of his wand, roused her from unconsciousness.

"Koko wa doko?" The girl asked in terror.

"Does she not speak English?" Voldemort asked.

"No, my Lord. Only Japanese." Bellatrix responded.

Voldemort pointed his wand to his throat.

"What is your name girl?" The dark wizard asked in Japanese.

"Kuroi, Kuroi Mato." The girl replied, eyes wide open at the sight of the man in front of her.

"And what do you know of the Otherselves?" Voldemort demanded.

"N-not much, I only really know about Black Rock Shooter." Mato stuttered.

"What does she look like?" Voldemort asked.

"S-she's pale, looks like me, she always w-wears a l-long b-black coat and carries a large gun." Mato answered, tears streaming out of her bright blue eyes.

Voldemort turned around and addressed the rest of the room.

"We have the final piece, we move towards Hogwarts!" Voldemort declared raising his arms in triumph.

* * *

Ron had been depressed ever since Hermione had left and Harry had given up on trying to cheer him up, all he could do was keep him somewhat focussed on school work. He didn't even respond to Fred and George's teasing about him being madly in love with the smart bushy-haired girl.

Harry went to speak to McGonagall, only to find Rock already in her office discussing something.

"Professor, is this a bad time?" Harry asked as he knocked.

Rock nodded then stood to one side.

"It's okay Potter, we were just talking about Umbridge." McGonagall said bitterly.

"Oh, okay. I was going to ask you about Hermione." Harry said.

"Ah yes, Miss Granger and several other students disappeared, we haven't been able to locate them. Have you got any word on what happened?" McGonagall asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Nothing Professor, only that they left of their own choice, before they were made to leave." Harry replied.

"Smart girl." McGonagall said sadly. "It's a sad state of affairs when we cannot protect our own."

"I thought she might have said something to you, or one of the other teachers before she left." Harry said.

"I'm afraid not Potter, you have more information than us at the moment. But I dare say it's safer out there for muggle-borns than inside these walls." McGonagall said, shaking her head.

"That was it Professor, Ron's taking Hermione leaving hard and I thought if I could give him something to go on he might snap out of it." Harry said.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you." McGonagall said sadly. "If I knew anything I would tell you."

Harry nodded and left, feeling a little better for trying to help Ron but immediately feeling worse because he hadn't.

As soon as Harry had closed the door, Rock approached McGonagall.

"Can you do it?" McGonagall asked.

Rock nodded.

* * *

"Wands away, books out." Umbridge said cheerfully as she strode through the class.

Nobody had bothered to take their wands out, they hadn't had a practical lesson all year, why would this one be any different.

"Well then, if you could..." Umbridge trailed off as she spotted a certain pale, black haired girl sitting in the back corner of the classroom.

"What are you doing here?" Umbridge demanded. "I thought you had been expelled!"

Rock nodded, she pointed to herself then tilted her head, closed her eyes and placed her hands to the side of her head, pretending to be asleep. Then she pointed towards the ground.

Umbridge looked at her in confusion before Harry spoke up.

"She lives here Professor." Harry translated.

"That doesn't explain why she's here in the first place!" Umbridge fumed.

Rock pointed at the short plump woman.

"Me? What about me?" The pink woman asked, taking a step back.

Rock stood up, threw off her robe and pointed the Black Blade towards Umbridge. She pointed out the window.

"I don't understand what you're saying you filthy half-breed!" Umbridge snarled.

"I think she's telling you to leave." Harry said, trying to suppress a smirk.

"I'm not being forced out of my own school by a stupid animal!" Umbridge bellowed, getting angrier by the second.

"I wouldn't make her angry Professor." Harry grinned, enjoying every moment of what was unfolding.

Before anyone could blink, Rock was at the woman with her blade pressing into the pink neck of Dolores Umbridge. Just then the classroom door opened and Professor McGonagall swept in.

"Minerva, tell this animal to let me go!" Umbridge demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, you see you expelled her, remember? She doesn't answer to any of the faculty, the only one she might listen to is safely locked away somewhere inside the Ministry of Magic." McGonagall said.

Rock dug the tip of her weapon deeper into the woman's neck, causing a tiny trickle of blood to spill out of the wound.

"I suggest you do what she wants." McGonagall said impassively.

"The Minister will hear about this!" Umbridge screamed. "You will all lose your jobs and be sent to the deepest part of Azkaban!"

"I don't doubt that, but the girl currently at your throat was the one who broke into Azkaban last year. I don't think she's worried." The elderly witch said.

Rock bared her teeth and allowed a small flicker of flame to burst out of her right eye.

"Alright, alright!" Umbridge screamed. "I'll go, but you'll all be sorry about this!" She cried. As she fled the room, the whole class cheered. McGonagall walked to the front of the class.

"This lesson is over, all of you need to go to the Great Hall." McGonagall said with no hint of amusement in her voice.

* * *

Every student and faculty member was inside the Great Hall, also present was ex-auror Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley and several others who Harry knew were members of the Order of the Phoenix but didn't know the names of.

McGonagall stood in front of everyone and cast a stern eye over the room, she breathed deeply, suppressing a shudder, before speaking.

"Voldemort is in Hogsmeade, and he's coming this way."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **It's all going to kick off in the next chapter, only two or three left, or just one really long one.**

 **BRS Project and the Harry Potter franchise are not owned by me.**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N**

 **Again, anything contained within * means it's translated from a different language.**

 **Apologies for any mis-translated Japanese, I used an online translator.**

* * *

Mass panic reigned, students were screaming and crying, some stared with blank faces and open mouths, numb with shock. A few giggled and laughed, thinking it was some sort of joke, only to start weeping when McGonagall didn't smile or laugh back.

"Prefects will lead everyone down to the dungeons." The elderly witch commanded. "No one is to leave until a head of house gives you the all clear."

Everyone, remarkably, stayed calm enough to not run for the door straight away. Instead, they shuffled behind the prefects, a few yelling hysterically.

Soon, only Harry was left. Although it was only because of Rock darting into the crowd as they were leaving and grabbing his collar.

"Miss Shooter, is there any reason why Harry is staying?" McGonagall asked.

Rock looked at Strength to explain.

Harry stared at Strength who looked very guilty.

"I'm sorry Harry, but Voldemort is coming here for you. If he enters the castle, he'll tear this place apart trying to find you. That could mean a lot of dead children." Strength explained, avoiding eye contact with the scarred teen. "If we keep you away from the rest of the students then at least you'll be the only one to die."

Harry's knees gave way under him, Rock managed to catch him before he hit the hard flagstones.

"You're, sacrificing me?" Harry gasped.

"Hardly." Strength frowned. "He's still got to get through the pair of us." She gestured to herself and Rock.

Harry looked up at her.

"Besides, it's not like you're going to be unarmed either." The Otherself grinned.

As Harry straightened up, Rock pulled a one-handed sword from her long coat. She carefully gripped it by the blade and presented it, hilt first to Harry.

"Thank you." Harry said nervously, taking the sword and giving it a few practice swings.

Strength left the pair and walking over to McGonagall who was telling everyone else there roles in the upcoming siege.

"We all set?" Strength asked.

"Yes, we're going to create the strongest barrier we can around the castle. Buy us some time until we think of a way to defeat You-Know-Who." McGonagall answered.

"I suppose we've got nothing to do except wait then." The white-haired Otherself said.

* * *

Rock and Strength stood at the top of the astronomy tower. A dozen metres above them was the peak of the magical dome that enclosed the castle, and about three miles ahead of them marched Voldemort's army. A huge mass of black pouring over the hills like tar, easily numbering in the thousands.

"I don't think we'll be able to avoid killing here, there's too many of them." Strength said grimly.

Rock nodded, she had had no intention of going easy on them. Everyone she met was going to die.

"I guess you're right." Strength sighed. "For love." She stated.

 _For love._ Rock repeated mentally.

* * *

Within the hour, the first of Voldemort's army came upon the barrier that protected Hogwarts. As they stepped through the dome, they silently dissolved into nothingness, as if they were ashes in a strong wind. The rest of the army stopped as looked back towards the hill they had marched down, upon it, even if he was too far away to see, was Voldemort.

The Dark Wizard held his wand to his throat and projected his voice into the mind of every single person currently within several miles of him.

"I admire your bravery, but you must realise by now that any attempt to resist me will meet with failure." Voldemort said. "Give me Harry Potter and I won't spill any magical blood. Give me Harry Potter and you all shall live." He paused. "You have until midnight."

* * *

"That's less than half an hour away!" Strength exclaimed. "There has to be some way of ending this without killing." She muttered as dozens of animated suits of armour marched behind her. She was standing just outside the main gate with Professor McGonagall, with Rock standing on the wall of the bridge.

The stone bridge was now the only way to get into the castle, as the wooden bridge to the rear had been destroyed.

"If there is then I don't see it." McGonagall said sadly, slightly shaking in fear and anticipation.

* * *

Harry had been left alone in the Great Hall, he worked through some basic thrusts and steps to get a feel for the sword in his hands. He was unsure how Rock had got it as it was the Sword of Godric Griffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. The sword only appeared to those who are in need of it and are Griffindor's successors. Rock was neither, she already had a weapon and had no connection to Griffindor.

If he survived, he would have to ask her how she got it.

If he survived, he realised then that there was every possibility that he would die tonight. A wave of regret suddenly swept over him, he had never told Ginny how he felt. Harry was unsure whether it was down to hormones or something deeper, but he felt deep affection for the redhead.

He steeled himself to survive, a fire was ignited in his chest as he thought about her.

 _For her, I WILL live!_ He thought to himself, believing every word.

* * *

The clock tower chimed midnight, the echoes scattered over the countryside. For a moment, it was the only sound that could be heard.

Then, as one, the Death Eater army raised their wands and thousands of magical bolts streaked through the air towards Hogwarts. The barrier protecting the school barely held up under the barrage, wide cracks appeared in the translucent dome, with the edges having the appearance of burning paper.

Voldemort raised his wand, it was Dumbledore's, taken from him when he was imprisoned. The Dark Wizard had claimed it for himself as he coveted the power contained within it.

With a great bellow, he unleashed a stream of energy towards the dome. Finally breaching it, and causing it to collapse in on itself.

A triumphant cry came from his army as the ran forwards, eager to fulfil their master's wishes.

Voldemort smiled, the fight would soon be over.

* * *

On the bridge, the remains of stone statues littered the walkway. Strength had positioned herself dead centre in front of the main gate which had been barricaded, effectively locking them out.

She configured all four of her Ogre Arms into Vulcan cannons and was firing them all into the oncoming masses. Her attack was less than effective though, the Death Eaters were using Shield Charms to deflect the bullets. Although it slowed them down, it failed to halt the flood.

Rock was also having the same problem, she was off to one side firing powerful blasts with the Rock Cannon. The victims were staggered backwards but continued to progress.

She waved over at Strength, who saw her out of the corner of her eye. The pale teen shook her head, pointed to herself and Strength, then she pointed at the sky and finally she held up three fingers.

Strength couldn't help herself, she smiled widely, realising what Rock was talking about. She nodded in response and pushed her rate of fire to its absolute limit as Rock dispelled her cannon.

Rock stood motionless for several minutes with her eyes closed, when she opened them, her left eye was blazing in blue fire and three huge multicoloured portals opened.

The one to the left of the main army disgorged hundreds of shambling corpses, each one clad in ancient armour and armed with pike, spears and swords. Above them emerged two large floating skulls, their eye sockets glowed with an unearthly green light as they sped into the mass of black clad Death Eaters.

Atop one, stood a figure wearing a black, gothic lolita dress and green glasses. She held a demonic looking scythe and wore a look of boredom upon her face.

Out of the right-hand portal a large spider construct with a dolls head at the front hurtled it's way through the air, before crashing into the Death Eaters. It continued to plough it's way through them, the girl sat at the back of the construct cheered excitedly. Her blonde hair flowed through the air underneath the black spiked crown seated on her head.

Nothing emerged from the portal situated directly above Voldemort's army straight away, leading Strength to believe that the final Otherself had refused to show. She was proven wrong when an enormous, serrated black and gold sword shot out of the portal and hammered itself into the ground. After it retreated back, a figure leapt out to the ground below. She had a short jacket and long pitch black hair with two red horns protruding out. Her hair whipping around wildly as she immediately piled into the attackers surrounding her.

 _The gang's all here._ Strength thought to herself. She transformed her right cannon back into a hand and motioned Rock to come over to her.

Rock did as she requested, only to be surprised when Strength picked her up.

"Don't worry, in this world this is called the 'Fastball Special'." The tanned Otherself smiled.

Without stopping her attack, she threw Rock into the centre of the dark army, then transformed her hand back.

* * *

Several Death Eaters had made it inside Hogwarts, they had flown in through the many broken towers and breeched walls made by the bombardment of spells. Members of the Order of the Phoenix were fighting the intruders on the upper levels, while McGonagall lead the teachers through the castle to defend the students in the dungeon.

Harry had been forced to remain in the Great Hall, Alastor Moody had placed a charm over the doors to prevent anyone leaving.

Unfortunately, in didn't stop anyone from entering, as Harry was currently fighting against a tall man dressed in tattered robes. He had several scars down his face and a murderous glint in his eye, and although he was a skilled opponent, the teenage wizard was holding his own.

Harry blocked a stunning spell with his magical shield and responded with a disarming spell of his own, the man dove out of the way but Harry was on him in an instant. He swung his sword, narrowly missing the man's arm but successfully slicing through the wand. Effectively disarming the attacker, Harry magically stunned him and caught his breath. He wondered how Rock and Strength were doing before he was interrupted by another intruder.

* * *

Rock summoned the Rock Cannon and Black Blade as she landed on top of an unfortunate Death Eater, snapping his neck and spine is several places. She rolled forwards and leapt to her feet, flicking her long pigtail out of her face. The teen lunged towards the nearest hostile slicing through his torso, she slammed her cannon into the face of another, fracturing her skull. The Rock Cannon fired, sending the corpse flying backwards and knocking a dozen attackers over.

She followed the blast, running over the fallen, she swung her arms apart. Cleaving two Death Eaters apart with her katana and breaking another's ribs with the cannon.

Chariot approached from the right riding upon Mary, as the giant mechanical spider passed, crushing everything in its path, Rock jumped onto its back.

"Fun." Chariot said in a monotone voice. "Should, come, sooner."

Rock nodded, the flames in her eye blazing to over half a meter. She dove off into a large pack of people, katana swinging as she landed.

* * *

Strength had struggled to stop the attackers from getting over the bridge. However, she hadn't failed at letting get to the main gate.

She gave up on shooting them, instead, she was pummelling them with all four of her fists. Charging from one to another, sometimes using her arms to propel herself faster, giving her the appearance of an oversized insect. As the Otherself batted away half a dozen Death Eaters, she punched the ground. The resulting shockwave knocked everyone off their feet, and caused large amounts of masonry to collapse into the canyon below.

"Crap!" Strength exclaimed as she saw a wall of magical bolts hurtling through the air towards her.

She raised her hands and covered herself just as they hit, sending her flying backwards towards where a large section of the bridge had collapsed. She grabbed the edge as she slid off, stopping herself from falling.

She clambered back onto the top and looked at the charging attackers.

"That hurt!" Strength bellowed as she started charging as well, pulling her fist back to strike.

* * *

Dead Master was standing on top of Ebony, one of her two familiars. The huge floating skulls roamed the battlefield as her legions continued to pour out of the portal. She frowned as the dark army below were barely managing to hold them back, the shrinking distance between the two was lit up like the sun. Hundreds of green bolts of light pounded into her army of corpses, but still they advanced, clambering over each other to fulfil their mistresses' bidding.

She pointed towards the ground and Ivory, the other giant skull, dropped out of the sky from next to her. As it crushed everyone unfortunate enough to be underneath, it opened its mouth and unleashed a green energy blast, turning everything it hit into charred, smoking ruins.

One of the larger skeletal warriors emerged from the portal, it broke off from the legion and moved towards the nearest giant. The giant in question didn't even get chance to turn around as its head was turned into a bloody pulp from the immense hammer the corpse carried. The other giants started running towards it, trampling everyone in their way as more huge warriors entered the human world.

The faced off against each other before throwing themselves into battle, many of the warriors were smashed to pieces but more soon exited the Otherworld, supplying the giants with many more targets to kill.

Dead Master continued to circle the battlefield atop Ebony, in the distance, she could see Rock surrounded by Death Eaters. Below, Black Gold Saw was in a similar position, although she was being much more methodical about her killing. She used King Saw to shield herself from any incoming spells and responded with measured blows, taking out three or four attackers at a time.

Chariot was wildly ploughing through the army, using Mary to stomp over as many Death Eaters as possible. Occasionally, Mary would fire several large macaroons, clearing the way in front of her and allowing her to build up some speed again.

Strength was impossible to be seen, Dead Master could only tell where she was by the numerous bodies that kept getting thrown up into the air.

Ebony lowered itself to the ground as Dead Master gracefully jumped down and held Dead Scythe by her side, daring anybody to come close to her. Several magical blast came towards her, she deflected them with the scythe with an expression of boredom and disdain. She stepped slowly through the bodies, striking down any foolish enough to approach with graceful but vicious attacks.

* * *

Voldemort was enraged, he had known that two Otherselves were in the human world. He hadn't suspected that three more would be capable of being summoned. Out of frustration he attacked one of his lieutenants with the Killing Curse and screamed at the body. The battlefield seemed to respond to the sound, as it lit up with thousands of wizards casting spells at the same time.

Then everything went quiet.

The mechanical spider had stopped moving and the portal that the undead army had been coming out of flickered and vanished. The two floating skulls had crashed to the ground and all the fighting had stopped.

After a few seconds, the sound of fighting could be heard. This time the source was coming from within Hogwarts.

Voldemort pressed his wand to his throat, and projected his voice into the mind of everyone.

"Stop the attack!" Voldemort demanded. "I speak to the survivors inside Hogwarts, lay down your wands. The Otherselves are dead, you cannot hope to resist my army. Surrender and no more of you have to die." He said triumphantly. "Harry Potter, meet me in the Forbidden Forest in thirty minutes. Come alone, the rest of you can use the time to dispose of your dead. Come alone Potter or I will kill every single person because of you."

Voldemort grinned, he had the boy now.

Soon this would all be over.

* * *

Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard, how could Rock and Strength be dead? The pair were practically indestructible, not even magic could harm them. Then he considered what he knew.

While they were unaffected by stunning spells, he had never seen anything stronger being used on them. It was entirely possible that Avada Kedavra could even end and Otherself's life.

The bodies of twelve Death Eaters surrounded him, most were simply unconscious, however he suspected that a few could have been killed by his own hand.

He felt sick.

What was he supposed to do now? If he left, he would most certainly die. But on the other hand, if he didn't then everyone would die, including him anyway.

But Moody had enchanted the door, there was no way it would open until the enchantment was lifted.

Wait, it was only the door that he couldn't open, it was possible that he could escape through one of the windows. He looked around.

There.

He hadn't even realised it had happened, but a portion of the rear wall had caved in, taking most of the windows with it. He could climb out through there and end this, no one else needed to die.

* * *

Voldemort was amusing himself by taunting the Japanese girl he had taken. She was currently crying over the lifeless body of Rock, her Otherself who had fought for her and by doing so created an unbreakable bond between her closest friend.

And now she was dead.

Mato couldn't believe it, she had faced Black Rock Shooter herself, she knew how tough she was. How single-minded she was, she would do anything for Mato, even venturing into the human world to defeat some far away evil that could've had the slightest possibility of hurting Mato.

And now she was dead.

Mato's face was red and blotchy from the tears. Suddenly she was hurled backwards, her hands and feet were bound with roots from the ground. She looked up at Voldemort, he had his wand pointed at her but his attention was elsewhere. She craned her head down to look at what it was only to see a boy a few years younger than her walking towards them.

 _*He's either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. Or both.*_ She thought.

"Harry Potter, how nice of you to join us." Voldemort laughed in that cold high voice that caused Harry to shiver.

"I'm here, now let..." Harry trailed off as he spotted Mato. "Who's that?" He demanded.

"This?" Voldemort said. "This is the human counterpart to this creature." He sneered, pushing Rock with his foot. "I was going to use her to stop the beast, but as it turns out they can be killed."

"So what's going to happen to her now?" Harry asked, he had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.

"She's nothing but a pathetic muggle." Voldemort spat. "Barely worthy to be alive, she will die, although it won't be until you die first."

"Wait!" Harry cried, hold a hand out in front of him. "Answer me one question. How do you know about the Otherselves?" He asked.

"I suppose I can indulge you last request." Voldemort laughed. "It was fifteen years ago, when my curse rebounded off that mudblood mother of yours." He explained. "My soul was cast into limbo, fitting between this world and the next. It also ventured into other worlds, including that of the Otherselves. I saw this dirty creature, always fighting, killing. All for some person who it hadn't even seen. I pieced together enough information to realise they were manifestations of all the negative, unwanted emotions of those in this world."

"But only of girls." Harry interrupted.

"Crucio!" Voldemort cried, thrusting the Elder wand towards Harry. "I was talking!" He bellowed angrily.

Harry collapsed to the floor in agony, writhing around as it felt like his skin was torn away from his body and spiders made of barbed wire tunnelled through his flesh.

"I realised that if any of them came to this world, they would pose a serious threat. So I took steps against that." Voldemort continued, he looked over at Mato. Who was trembling in fear. "I think that's enough, it's time to end this. Back on your feet!" He demanded.

Harry struggled, but eventually stood up.

"Very good, Avada Ked..." Voldemort was cut off by the sound of screaming and the sight of a large multicoloured portal the size of Hogwarts appearing, visible through the treeline.

A Death Eater came running up to him.

"My Lord, forgive me but it seems those things were not really dead." She panted through her mask. "They've started fighting again."

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort screamed, a green bold of lightning struck the messenger in the chest. She fell to the floor instantly, all life escaping her body.

Voldemort, grabbed Mato and held her in front of him as Rock opened her eyes. Her right eye exploded fire as she shakily stood up, she looked around and spotted Mato with a wand pointed at her throat.

"Stay back, or I will kill her." Voldemort threatened.

Rock's eyes opened wide and her mouth let out a silent gasp, inside, a whole host of emotions bubbled up inside of her, she grabbed the sides of her head as though in pain.

"*Please, let me go, she's going insane! I have to help her!*" Mato pleaded.

"Shut up filth!" Voldemort shouted.

Rock's head shot up, the blue flame petered out as Harry looked on in fascination. Small bursts of purple fire flickered, igniting into the largest explosion that Harry had seen come from her. Rock was consumed by a white light as black, metal spikes burst from her body, spraying violet blood everywhere.

"What's going on?" Voldemort shouted in confusion.

Harry could only stare, he was equally confused.

"*Please let me go! Let me go or we'll all die!*" Mato screamed.

The white light exploded outwards and a black armoured Rock was left standing in its place, her clawed metal hands holding the Insane Blade Claw. A variation of her Black Blade, this was a vicious looking sword with long serrated blades along its edge. She also had the Insane Cannon Lance, it had a long blade coming out of the cannon barrel and was longer than she was tall.

Voldemort looked at her in fear, he gripped Mato tightly and disapparated, leaving Harry alone with the crazed Otherself.

* * *

Strength, Dead Master, Black Gold Saw and Chariot looked toward the forest when they saw the white light. Strength slammed all of her fists to the ground, causing everyone in the vicinity to lose their balance and fall to the floor.

She looked over at Black Gold Saw.

"You don't think Black Rock Shooter...?" Strength said, leaving the question unfinished.

Black Gold Saw nodded slowly.

Strength waved over to Chariot.

"Chariot! Take Mary and get Harry! You're the fastest!" The tanned Otherself yelled.

The blonde girl nodded and climbed onto her giant mechanical spider, they wheeled around on the spot, crushing and mulching up the bodies beneath them and hurtled into the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Chariot and Mary slammed their way through the trees sending branches and splinters of wood flying everywhere. Mary rammed into Rock as she stalked towards Harry and Chariot grabbed Harry, dragging him behind her as she sped away.

Rock stood up slowly from where she had landed twenty metres away, she flexed and rotated her shoulder, then started following the pair.

* * *

Harry and Chariot rode on Mary as they hurtled back towards the battle. The huge spider construct left the ground as they went down the slight hill, landing on a group of Death Eaters who were currently fighting Black Gold Saw.

Chariot pushed Harry off Mary as they reached Strength and sped off to help in the fight.

"What's going on?" Harry asked with a groan as he pushed himself of the floor.

"Well we've reopened the portal allowing Dead Master's legions to enter this world, it's only a matter of time before this battle is over." Strength replied, pummelling a dark wizard into the ground. "But Black Rock Shooter has gone insane, with her in that state the whole world is a risk. What happened?"

"Voldemort had a girl with him, she looked similar to Rock." Harry shouted over the sounds of screaming. "Rock seemed to explode into a ball of light when he threatened her."

"He has Mato?" Strength cried, stopping and looking at Harry. "This is worse than I thought. What happened to them?"

"Voldemort and the girl disapparated, then that spider thing." Harry said, pointing at Mary who was stomping wizards' into pulp. "Knocked her flying, then we were here."

Harry dove out of the way of a red bolt of magic, he rolled away and looked up in time to see Strength get hit with the spell. She blocked the shot with one of her hands and fired several rounds of bullets into the mans' chest.

"Crap! Girls! We gotta get to the castle!" Strength screamed. "Everyone on Mary!"

Dead Master and Black Gold Saw nodded, they shoulder barged their way to Chariot and Mary before leaping on. Strength picked Harry up and did the same, only she punched the surviving Death Eaters into bloodied messes as she ran. She threw Harry up who was promptly caught by Dead Master and climbed up after him.

Rock appeared at the top of the hill, she pointed her Insane Cannon Lance towards the fight and sprayed the area with bullets, shredding the humans to rags.

"Move!" Strength screamed. "Dead Master, bring everything you have through the portal!"

Dead Master nodded with a look contempt and closed her eyes, almost instantly the portal began to pulse and grow. Thousands upon thousands of shambling corpses staggered their way into the human world, crawling over the bodies of their kind and the wizards alike. Harry turned around as saw the nightmare version of Rock walk into the fray, firing her cannon wildly and hacking people with that evil jagged blade of hers.

* * *

Mary's spider legs hammered over the bridge, cracking the stone and masonry and causing more of it to fall into the ravine below. The Death Eaters and giants caught on the bridge at the time were either crushed or sent flying into the abyss.

"Hold. On." Chariot muttered as they came to the large gate of Hogwarts.

Mary reared up on its rear wheels and pulled itself up the wall with its legs, Strength grabbed Harry as he lost his grip and pulled him close.

"She did warn you." Strength teased, smiling slightly.

"Y-yeah, thanks." Harry stammered in reply, gazing into the orange ringed eyes of the Otherself.

"What?" Strength asked uneasily.

"N-nothing." Harry said quickly, looking away.

They stopped at the top of the wall and gazed out back over the killing ground they had left. Vast swathes of corpses littered the mud, giant craters filled with blood and body parts spread over the land, courtesy of Black Rock Shooter and Black Gold Saw. An undead army, outnumbering the Death Eater army nearly three to one was now ignoring the wizards and dark creatures to converge on a single figure in the distance. The dark wizards, panicked and confused were fleeing. Most were disapparating, although a lot were simply running away on foot.

Purple flashes lit up the cloudy sky as Rock, fired her cannon lance into the oncoming masses.

"How long will it take for her to get to us?" Harry asked.

"As long as it takes for her to get bored." Strength replied seriously. "I cannot overstate how dangerous she is."

Chariot, Black Gold Saw and Dead Master nodded in unison.

"So what do we do now?" Harry asked in dismay.

"I don't know." Strength answered.

* * *

Voldemort and Mato appeared in the Ministry of Magic, in the deepest, lowest levels of the vast complex.

"*Why are you doing this?*" Mato cried.

"*Silence girl!*" Voldemort shouted, his wand at his throat. "*What is that creature?*" He asked as they walked down a dark corridor.

"*Black Rock Shooter.*" Mato answered tearfully. "*She's my Otherself, and she's gone crazy! I need to get to her and calm her down!*"

"*What can you do to stop her, filthy muggle?*" Voldemort sneered.

"*She is me, all of my pain and heartache, all contained in one body.*" Mato explained, shivering in fear. "*It's because of me that she's gone insane, it's because she loves me!*"

"*Love!*" Voldemort scoffed. "*Love is an illusion, cheap tricks, it has no real power!*"

"*T-thats not true, she fights because she loves me, she's gone crazy because she loves me. She saw me in terrible danger, close to being killed and her mind snapped!*" Mato explained with equal parts of fear and anger.

"*Enough, we're here.*" Voldemort snapped.

They stopped in front of a large black door, it had no visible openings or handles. Yet it smoothly slid open when the Dark Wizard pressed his palm in the middle.

Inside was darkness, Mato could just make out the faint outline of a body suspended from the ceiling by thick chains.

"Dumbledore, how nice to see you're being looked after." Voldemort sneered.

"Tom." Dumbledore wheezed. "How are you?" He coughed.

"Shut up you old fool, I need to know how to defeat an Otherself." Voldemort demanded.

"Black Rock Shooter?" Dumbledore asked hoarsely.

"Burakku Rokku Shuta." Mato confirmed, Voldemort slapped her to the ground for the outburst.

Dumbledore stayed silent, a few tears fell from his eyes.

"How do I kill her?" Voldemort screamed.

"*Insane?*" Dumbledore asked, looking at Mato who was still on the floor.

"Hai." Mato nodded tearfully.

"Then we're all doomed, she will tear the world apart to protect this girl Tom." Dumbledore said sadly. "I could barely hold her back when she wasn't overpowered with madness, I doubt I could even make her flinch as she is now."

"Liar!" Voldemort screamed, pointing his wand at Dumbledore. "I know she can be stopped, you won't defeat me by using her. If you can't help, then I have no further use for you!"

"If we worked together then there may be a chance, you would need to release me and come with me to Hogwarts." Dumbledore sighed. "But I would request that you stop this madness, stop with the killings, disappear."

"You want me to stop?" Voldemort asked in disbelief. "When I'm at the very cusp of victory?"

"Without me, your victory will be short-lived. Black Rock Shooter was sent here from the Otherworld specifically to stop you." Dumbledore said gravely. "You might win today, you may even have time to conquer the world, but one day soon she will come for you."

Voldemort screamed in anger, then pointed his wand at the chains keeping Dumbledore bound and released them.

The elderly wizard fell to the floor in a heap and Mato ran over to help him.

"*Are you okay?*" The Japanese girl asked.

"I'm sorry?" Dumbledore asked, coughing.

"She asked if you were okay." Voldemort said harshly. He pushed Mato out of the way and forced Dumbledore to his feet, he held on to the bearded wizard and roughly grabbed the young girl and together they disapparated to Hogwarts.

* * *

"Harry! Get all the teachers you can and bring them here!" Strength shouted as she noticed that Rock was nearly to the bridge, the sounds of screaming and gunfire was almost deafening.

Harry nodded and ran off, Strength could only hope that he got back in time.

* * *

"Professor!" Harry shouted as he spotted McGonagall.

"Potter! What happened?" McGonagall asked. "The battle stopped, then started again and then everyone ran."

"It's Rock, she's gone crazy! She scared off Voldemort and she's now coming here to kill us!" Harry panted as he stopped in front of her.

"What? Why would she do that?" McGonagall asked in confusion.

Harry shook his head.

"I don't know." The scarred teen said. "Strength asked me to get all the teachers and bring them to her. I think she has a plan."

* * *

"Strength! All of the adults are here!" Harry shouted to the Otherself as they emerged into the courtyard.

Strength turned and walked towards McGonagall.

"Professor, I'm going to need you and everyone else to create a barrier in this area as soon as Black Rock Shooter enters." Strength explained.

"But why? Why is she doing this?" McGonagall asked.

"She's gone insane, Voldemort threatened her partner, now she's snapped and out of control." Strength said quickly.

"Is a barrier that powerful really necessary?" McGonagall asked as she nodded to everyone to get prepared.

"Yes, Black Rock Shooter was formed out of a desire for others to not feel pain. Think of her as a being made out of sheer willpower, you can contain her but eventually she will get free. Black Rock Shooter has personally beaten all of us in the past, and now she's gone insane, she's even stronger." Strength continued to explain.

"It will take a while to cast the charm." McGonagall stated.

Strength nodded.

"We thought that might be the case, so we will hold her off." The tanned girl said.

McGonagall looked sadly at Strength, a sick feeling in her stomach.

The large gate exploded inwards in a great ball of purple, through the dust strode Rock. She cast aside the remains of one of Dead Master's warriors as the Otherselves surrounded her.

"Do it!" Strength yelled as four Otherselves threw themselves in battle against Insane Black Rock Shooter.

* * *

Dumbledore, Voldemort and Mato apparated into the midst of the fight. Mato screamed as King Saw hammered into the ground in front of them, shortly followed by Black Gold Saw.

Then Chariot wheeled towards them as Black Gold Saw stood back up, she pulled King Saw out of the flagstones and ran towards Rock.

Chariot grabbed Mato in her claws and batted the two wizards out of the way, she put Mato down next to them, pulled out her sword and entered the fray as well.

"What's going on Minerva?" Dumbledore asked.

"Miss Shooter has gone crazy, those four are fighting her while we create a barrier to contain her." McGonagall explained with difficulty, not even bothering to ask why Voldemort was there, or who the girl was.

"Tom, I think it would be best to help them." Dumbledore said to Voldemort.

Voldemort looked at him with contempt.

"If we don't help, she might not be stopped." Dumbledore pointed out.

With an angry snarl, Voldemort pulled out his wand and gave Dumbledore back his, they joined the circle as started casting.

Rock was attacking Dead Master with as much ferocity as she could summon, the Blade Claw scattering sparks as it collided with Dead Master's Dead Scythe. Dead Master parried the attack as Black Gold Saw swung a Rock's head with King Saw. Rock ducked the swing and spun on her heel, slamming the Insane Cannon Lance into the red horned woman's' torso, causing her to stagger backwards.

Dead Master then attacked, swiping with her scythe in a back-handed strike and following up with her claws. Rock knocked the scythe out of the way but was left open, Dead Master's green claws embedded themselves in her chest, spraying the girl in the gothic dress with purple blood.

Strength and Chariot also took the chance to attack, Chariot wheeled towards her, coming in with her sword pointed towards the crazed girl. Strength leapt towards Rock, fist raised high, ready to strike.

Rock jumped backwards at the last moment and swung the tip of the Insane Cannon Lance in the air, Chariot's sword missed by millimetres and Strength was knocked aside buy the cannon slamming into one of her Ogre Arms putting her into a spin.

Strength slammed heavily into the ground as Black Gold Saw jumped over her and sliced King Saw downwards, only to be met by a hail of gunfire as Rock's cannon came up to impale her.

Dead Master knocked the cannon out of the way, just before in shredded Black Gold Saw, and kicked Rock in the chest. Rock looked at Dead Master with a grin and the purple flame flared brighter.

Mato was watching with a combination of awe and terror, she wanted to run, to get away from this strange place, but she couldn't. She couldn't just leave Black Rock Shooter like this she had to help somehow.

She started to walk into the battle but was stopped by Harry.

"I wouldn't do that, you're going to get yourself killed!" Harry told her.

Mato tilted her head to the side.

"Watashi wa anata o rikai shite inai, watashi wa burakku rokku shuta o shien suru hitsuyō ga arimasu!" Mato said.

"What?" Harry asked in confusion. "Look I don't speak Chinese or japanese or whatever it is you're speaking. If you go over there you will die!"

"Michi o hazureru! Watashi wa kanojo o tasukeru tame ni motte imasu!" Mato cried as Harry stood in her way. She tried to push her way past but was restrained by Harry.

"I can't let you be killed, too many people have died tonight! I'm not having another on my conscience!" Harry said firmly as he held the struggling girl.

"Ika sete!" Mato shouted.

Rock looked towards the shout and saw Mato being forcibly restrained by Harry, not two metres away from her was Voldemort casting some kind of spell. A new pit of hatred and anger welled up inside her already broken mind. She kicked Chariot out of the way and started walking towards them.

Strength and Dead Master came in for a simultaneous attack, Rock simply shot Strength with the Insane Cannon Lance and rammed the Insane Claw Blade into Dead Master's leg, ripping it away with the cruel serrated edges a spraying bright green blood all over herself.

"Now! Get out of there!" Dumbledore shouted.

Strength, Black Gold Saw and Chariot ran towards the other wizards while Dead Master used her scythe as a crutch and hobbled out as fast as she could.

Rock looked around in some confusion while she walked towards Harry and Mato, she bounced off an invisible wall and fell to the ground. She got up and approached slowly, holding the tip of her blade out in front of her. She came to the point where she had collided and felt the area with her hand. A cold, invisible barrier stood in her way. She followed the wall and ended up coming back to her starting point.

Harry shivered as Rock glared at him, he quickly released Mato who ran towards Rock.

Everyone watched as Mato placed a hand on the dome and looked into Rock's eyes, Rock responded by placing her hand opposite Mato's. They spoke quietly, their words unheard by anyone, not even the Otherselves. After a few minutes Mato turned and glared at Voldemort, before focussing her attention back on Rock.

"What are they talking about?" Harry asked Strength.

"I don't know but I'm getting a bad feeling, normally I'd say it's good for those two to be speaking. She'd probably be able to calm Black Rock Shooter down, but this feels different. What did Voldemort do to her?" Strength said.

Harry marched over to Voldemort who was being magically restrained by Dumbledore, McGonagall and Alastor Moody.

"What did you do to her!" Harry shouted at Voldemort.

"How dare you speak to me like you're my equal!" The Dark Wizard spat. "You're nothing to me! Always hiding behind other people!"

Harry took out his wand and pointed it at Voldemort's face.

"Harry, put that away. This is not you, don't allow yourself to give in to him!" Dumbledore said, gently placing a hand to Harry's shoulder.

"Aye lad, put it away before you hurt yourself" Moody added.

"Hundreds of people are dead because of him!" Harry shouted. "He doesn't deserve to live!"

"Harry, nobody has the right to determine to lives and who dies." Dumbledore said with a slightly firmer tone of voice. "No matter what someone has gone through."

Harry turned away in disgust and walked back over to Strength, the four Otherselves were watching Mato and Rock continue to talk.

"What are we going to do about her?" Harry asked.

"If Black Rock Shooter can't get her mind pieced back together then we'll have to kill her." Strength said grimly. "We'll take her back to our world first though, this one cannot hope to stop her for long."

Harry looked at her in surprise.

"All this has done is to piss her off and slow her down, she will escape." Strength said.

"What about Voldemort? The impression I got was that he was going to be locked up, not killed." Harry asked.

"What! He is a danger to both our worlds! He had to die!" Strength stated firmly.

She walked over to Dumbledore.

"Why are you not going to kill him?" Strength asked.

"Like I said to Harry, no one has the right to determine when someone's life ends." Dumbledore told her, his irritation growing.

"He is dangerous, to your world and ours!" Strength replied.

Dead Master and Black Gold Saw looked in their direction.

"I'm sorry, my decision is final, he will go to Azkaban for the rest of his life." Dumbledore said.

"No, he needs to die." Strength said in disbelief. "We'll do it for you if you can't"

"My mind is made up!" Dumbledore said loudly. "No one is killing him!"

Chariot, Mato and Rock were now also looking at Dumbledore.

"Need. To. Die." Chariot said.

Harry walked forwards.

Professor, they want him dead. I don't think you have much of a choice." Harry stated.

"Harry, I'm disappointed in you. Did you not say to that girl a few minutes ago that you didn't want anyone else to die?" Dumbledore said while sadly shaking his head.

"That's different, she's innocent. What he's done. It's unforgivable." Harry replied.

A loud clang came from Rock's direction. She was using the Insane Cannon Lance and Insane Claw Blade to try to carve a hole in the magical barrier.

"We don't have much time." Strength muttered. "Dumbledore, you need to make a decision. Either you let us kill him, or Black Rock Shooter escapes, kills him and then all of you as well." She said to the headmaster.

Everyone looked at each other, they gripped their wands tighter.

"Not to mention, you'll also be fighting us." Strength added. "We're here because of the ones we're bonded to, we'll fight every single one of you if it means they stay safe. With Voldemort alive they'll never be safe."

A loud crack came from Rock, she had managed to force the Insane Claw Blade through the dome.

Dumbledore looked at Rock then back to Strength and sighed.

"I cannot allow you to do that, I understand and respect your way of thinking but I cannot stand by and allow someone to die. No matter who they are." Dumbledore said firmly.

"Then I guess we have no choice." Strength said, shaking her head.

Another crack, Rock had rammed the cannon through the dome as well.

Dumbledore waved his wand and Strength was thrown backwards several metres towards the dome.

Chariot and Black Gold Saw attacked instantly, both of them swinging their swords at Dumbledore. They were stopped by a mass of magical bolts from the teachers hitting them and also throwing them backwards.

Dead Master silently called Ebony and Ivory to her, the two massive, floating skulls appeared over the top of the castle walls and attempted to crush the wizards in the courtyard. Several magical shields stopped their descent, although the force of the impact rendered a few of the wizards unconscious.

Strength opened fire with her Ogre Arms, shredding half of the wizards with a hail of bullets before Dumbledore stopped them with another powerful shield.

Black Gold Saw and Chariot hammered their swords against the shield as well, Ebony and Ivory continued their assault and Dead Master's undead army started entering through the gate.

"Professor! Stop this!" Harry shouted over the gunfire. "You're going to end up killing everyone!"

"I'm sorry Harry, but I can't." Dumbledore said, his voice straining from the effort of protecting everyone within the shield, blood ran from his nose and stained his beard pink.

The done containing Black Rock Shooter collapsed, unleashing her against the wizards. The Otherselves backed off, against their instincts to fight her, in the hopes that ending Voldemort's life would restore her sanity.

She tore through Dumbledore's shield like paper, teeth bared like a feral animal, then she cleanly decapitated Voldemort before turning towards Dumbledore.

The elderly wizard summoned vines and roots through the stone floor of the courtyard, ensnaring the insane girl and holding her still.

"We've been in this position before haven't we?" Dumbledore asked.

Rock strained against her bindings.

"You've killed him, isn't that what you wanted?" Dumbledore said, slightly panicking.

Rock ripped through the vines holding her left arm down, freeing her Claw Blade. She slashed at the old wizard who stepped away in fear.

Strength turned and ran towards Mato.

"*What did you say to her?*" Strength asked.

"*I tried calming her down, but she said that they need to die first.*" Mato said coldly.

"*Who?*" Strength asked.

"*The bald man with no nose and the old man with the beard. She said that they're both a threat to me.*" Mato answered.

"*And you didn't try to change her mind?*" Strength asked.

"I tried, but she wasn't listening, if she doesn't do this then she'll kill anyone who gets in her way.*" Mato said, shaking slightly.

Strength looked over at Rock, she had freed herself from the vines and was now tearing her way through a stone golem that Dumbledore had animated from the surrounding rubble.

As Rock destroyed the golem, she fired her cannon at Dumbledore who just managed to summon a shield in time. She walked forwards, still firing the cannon and used the blade of the front to cut through it. The hail of bullets penetrated the magical defence and rendered the wizard into an unrecognisable blood stain on the floor.

A scream came from the gathered witches and wizards who hadn't fled, many of them broke down and cried.

Harry stared in shock, he had never expected Rock to kill Dumbledore. Voldemort yes, but not the kindly headmaster.

Mato ran towards Rock and hugged her, the insane Otherself turned in surprise and looked at the teenage girl embracing her. Something deep inside her broke and a wave of new feelings flooded her consciousness, the greatest of them being happiness. She was glad that Mato had survived, the hug made her feel warm and for the first time she hugged someone.

The purple flame gradually died down, and Mato kept hold of Rock as the latter began to glow with a bright blue light.

When the light faded, Insane Black Rock Shooter had disappeared. In her place was Rock, sane and still hugging Mato.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Fixed the formatting in the previous chapter, so it should be obvious when they're speaking Japanese.**

 **Next time, the aftermath.**

 **No characters contained within are owned by me.**


	23. Chapter 23

"What the hell just happened?" Harry asked with his jaw hanging. He had just witnessed an unstoppable, insane killer, turn into an unstoppable killer.

All from a hug.

"I don't know." Strength shrugged as Harry walked over to her. "I guess she got through to Black Rock Shooter."

"But she was going to kill everyone!" Harry cried.

"Only to save Mato." Strength said turning to face him. "Look Harry, for some reason you don't seem to fully understand this about us." She stared at him with deadly intent. "Each one of us would slaughter every single one of you if it meant our partners would live happy peaceful lives, we would also willingly die to protect them. Nothing else matters to us."

Harry gulped, finally, truly understanding after seeing first-hand the power these Otherselves had.

Strength suddenly smiled and very gently patted Harry on the head.

"But you don't need to worry about that any more, with Voldemort gone, we can return to our world!" The tanned Otherself stated.

Black Gold Saw and Dead Master walked over to Strength, Dead Master using her scythe as a crutch. Harry left them to their conversation and went over to the seven remaining faculty members, who were either in shock or crying, he was pleased to see Professor McGonagall and Hagrid survived. He was a little ambivalent to see that Snape was also alive, that turned into surprise when Harry swore he saw a faint smile underneath that hooked nose when the potions master looked at him. It was gone in an instant, but Harry was sure he had seen it.

"Professor, are you okay?" Harry asked as he stopped in front of McGonagall.

"Yes, thank you Potter." The elderly witch said with tears in her eyes. "She murdered him! Why did she kill Albus?" She cried.

Then it suddenly hit him, in the sudden ending he had almost forgotten that the kindly old wizard had died at Rock's hand. A fire burned in his chest as he marched over to Rock.

"Why did you kill him?" Harry demanded.

Rock let go of Mato and looked at Harry questioningly, as if she didn't understand why she shouldn't of killed him.

"Why, damn it!" Harry shouted in her face.

Rock pointed at Mato, then pointed to Harry's wand, which he was gripping so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"Because he had a wand? Because he was a wizard? What do you mean? Talk to me damn it!" Harry yelled, now tearing up.

"Harry." Strength said as she ran over to him.

"What?" Harry shouted angrily, wiping his eyes.

"Rock killed Dumbledore because she felt he was as much of a threat as Voldemort, she was simply following her instincts." Strength explained.

"That's crap!" Harry retorted. "He wasn't a threat to anyone! Besides, she was working with him to stop Voldemort!"

"That's true, but he was an extremely powerful wizard. Black Rock Shooter must have sensed that he could endanger Mato's life." Strength said, earning a glance from Rock at using her partners name.

"I don't understand." Harry muttered, finally breaking down from the stress and falling to his knees. "How?" He pleaded.

"Harry." Strength said gently. "What would you have done to protect Ginny?"

"I don't understand." Harry cried.

"How far would you have gone to protect Ginny Weasley? I can see it in your heart, you've finally admitted to yourself that you love her. How far would be willing to go for her?" Strength asked, kneeling down to his level.

"All the way." Harry replied.

"And what about someone who could have potentially hurt her?" Strength asked.

"I would find a way to stop them." Harry answered. "But I wouldn't go so far as to kill them!" He added.

"Of course not, you're a good kid Harry. But if you weren't in the right frame of mind? If you had been driven to the brink of madness because you thought she might die?" Strength asked.

"I would end them." Harry growled, finally realising.

Strength stood up and held out one of her massive hands to him.

"I know you would, there isn't one of us who wouldn't." The white-haired girl said. "You know, you would make a good Otherself." She grinned.

Harry simply nodded.

"Now I have some bad news to tell Black Rock Shooter." Strength said sadly turning away.

Harry walked slowly towards the onlookers, he still felt numb but he understood why Rock had killed Dumbledore.

It didn't mean he had to like or even agree with the decision though.

Suddenly a squawk came from above, he looked up to see Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, flying towards him. It landed on his shoulder and poked a rolled up piece of parchment it held in its beak into Harry's face. He took the scroll and unravelled it, he read the contents and turned pale, a cold sweat broke out across his face and he looked urgently towards Rock.

"Lad!" Shouted a course voice.

Harry looked around to see Moody stomping towards him, forcing his way past Hagrid and Snape.

"Boy, what do you think you're doing? Get away from them!" Alastor shouted.

"What? Why?" Harry asked, confused.

"Because that skinny one with the long coat killed Dumbledore, we can't allow her to roam free!" Moody growled.

Harry looked down at the scroll in his hands, then back at Rock again.

"Wait there, I need to talk to her." Harry said, holding out a hand.

"Potter! Get away from them!" Moody shouted.

Harry turned his head back to look at the grizzled auror and held out his hand again.

"What is it Harry?" Strength asked as the Otherselves, who were standing in a circle, let him through.

"Moody wants to arrest Rock for killing Dumbledore, and I need to show her this note." Harry said, holding the parchment out.

"What is it?" Strength asked.

"Sorry, it says only Rock is allowed to know what's written on it." Harry told her, retracting his hand away. He passed the note to Rock who quickly read it before passing it back nodding, she looked at Mato, who was holding onto her arm and smiling at her, and lightly stroked her face. A flicker of sadness and regret flashed across her face, unnoticed to anyone but her and Harry.

The rest of the Otherselves looked between Harry and Rock with questioning stares but stopped after it became apparent that neither would tell them what was on it.

"Harry, there is something I need to tell you." Strength said seriously. "One of us needs to stay here, someone needs to be left behind."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Well opening a portal is something each of us can do, it turns out to be fairly simple from this world. What makes it complicated is that the portal can only allow passage from this side if someone remains here." Strength explained.

"So open the portal and you all step through at once." Harry suggested, not understanding the problem.

"As soon as the last one of us started to step through, the portal would close, due to them not being wholly in this world. It would kill whoever tried." Strength carried on.

"But you all came through and no one was killed." Harry stated.

"That's because there are more of us in our world to provide an anchor, as it were, but we are the only ones in this one." Strength said.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

Strength, Dead Master and Black Gold Saw nodded.

"Both Dead Master and Black Gold Saw have confirmed it, and they don't agree on much." The tanned Otherself said, smiling sadly.

Harry felt a shiver ride his spine, as though this whole situation had been planned from the start.

"So what do we do?" Harry asked.

"I think first we need to get Mato back home." Strength said. She looked at the girl who was chatting to Rock. "*Mato, we need to get you home now. You're safe.*"

"*Can't I stay longer with Black Rock Shooter?*" Mato asked.

"*I'm sure she's not going to leave until she knows you're safely back.*" Strength said looking at Rock.

Rock simply nodded and stroked the girl's hair.

"*Are you all going to come?*" Mato asked, suddenly having an idea.

"*If you would like.*" Strength replied.

Mato grinned and pulled out her mobile phone, she tapped a long string of numbers and spoke into it when the recipient answered.

"Strength, who's going to stay?"

"I don't know, that's something we have... You want to stay?" Strength said, interrupting herself as she saw Rock step forward.

The pale teen with lopsided pigtails nodded.

"Are you sure? You'd never be able to return, not to mention these wizards don't like you for killing Dumbledore." Strength reminded her.

Rock nodded again, holding Mato closer.

"Very well, Harry, could you tell Alastor and the rest that we'll be returning in a few hours." Strength asked. She looked pointedly at Rock. "All of us." She added.

Harry nodded and went over to Moody to explain the situation, he started to object before Harry reminded him what the five Otherselves had done during the battle. Not to mention that Chariot had Mary, who was sitting on top of the castle wall looking down at them, and Dead Master still had her army stationed outside, waiting for orders. Moody backed down with a snarl and reluctantly agreed, realising there was nothing he could do.

Black Gold Saw lifted her sword and thrust it forwards into the air, half of it disappeared, as though buried in an invisible wall. She tore the sword downwards and created a jagged rip in the surface of the world which glowed with a brilliant white light. One by one, they all jumped into it before the tear sealed up, leaving no trace it had ever existed.

* * *

In Japan, on a hill overlooking Mato's home town. A glowing rent in the fabric of space-time tore its way into reality, surprising the four females who had gathered there at the request of their missing friend.

The surprise and shock grew as out of the tear stepped Mato, closely followed by Black Rock Shooter, Dead Master, Strength, Chariot and finally Black Gold Saw. The two groups stared at each other for a long moment, both reeling in surprise, then they ran towards each other in joy.

* * *

Hours passed, and Moody and Harry were the only ones left in the courtyard, everyone else had to start getting the trapped students away. Moody was getting impatient, cursing Harry for allowing Rock to escape and stating that she was never going to return.

Just then a hole in reality formed and five Otherselves entered the courtyard, they looked slightly shaken and dismayed at being back.

"Finally!" Growled Moody, as he hobbled towards them.

"Stop!" Strength shouted, halting Moody mid-stride. "Black Rock Shooter will remain here, but only at her desire, attempt to mistreat her in any way and you might end up paying dearly for it." She said, nodding towards the Hogwarts house-elves who were still attempting to scrub Dumbledore's blood from the stone.

Moody hesitantly nodded and crossed his arms.

"Harry, it's been a pleasure." Strength said, grabbing him in a squeezing embrace.

"S-same here." Harry said with great effort as the air was forced out of his lungs.

He caught his breath as Strength released him.

"Did you figure out what happened to Rock? Why did she turn back to normal?" Harry asked.

"I think we did." Strength grinned. "Unlike last time, when Black Rock Shooter fully gave herself to the madness, a small portion of her sanity remained. Not much, not enough to save Dumbledore, but just enough so that she would recognise Mato and not kill her. When Mato hugged her, it triggered an overwhelming sensation of happiness."

"And that's it?" Harry asked, feeling slightly frustrated at the explanation.

"Well, we take on so many negative emotions that it would overwhelm any human, that's why we're generally emotionless. Black Rock Shooter went insane because her emotions became so great that not even one of us could stand it." Strength said, going into more detail. "The positive emotions that flooded through her, must have swept everything away, allowing her to regain her mind. It's not something that anyone could do to stop her, and it's only because it was Mato's life being in danger caused it that let such a unique situation develop."

"I-I think I understand." Harry said, his head started to hurt. "Rock went insane to protect Mato, because of that, she still recognised Mato as someone she couldn't kill. And the reaction that being hugged by the one person she loved more than anything caused, was enough to pull her from the brink of loosing it completely." He said, hoping to grasp the explanation.

"That's pretty much it." Strength grinned. "Anyone, human or Otherself, can go through a similar experience. It's just more intense, and often more deadly with us."

Harry nodded, thinking about what he would have done if it was him and Ginny in place of Rock and Mato.

Strength looked around the courtyard and sighed.

"It's strange, but I think I'm going to miss this place." The orange eyed girl chuckled. "You ready?" She said, looking around to Rock.

Rock nodded and stood beside Harry.

"Farewell Black Rock Shooter, I hope we meet again." Strength said sadly, she turned and with a final look back, she stepped through the hole in reality created by Black Gold Saw and King Saw, following Mary who struggled to get its immense bulk through the hole.

A moment passed where Rock and Harry were staring at the space where the rent had been before the peace was shattered.

"You ready girl?" Moody said, as softly as he could from behind them.

Rock turned around, looked up at the large, twisted man. Her eyes dropped and she slowly nodded.

Harry watched as the ex-auror lead Rock away, a tear rolled down his face which he quickly wiped away.

"Goodbye, Black Rock Shooter." Harry said quietly, he looked down at the parchment he was still holding in his hands. "Until we meet again."

With that, he ran off. He had to find his friends, and of course, tell a certain female redhead how he felt about her.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **The epic conclusion! Well kind of.**

 **I hope you guys liked this at least 1/8th as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

 **Mostly talking in this one, hopefully i've wrapped up any questions about what happened to Rock. Any other plot holes I will leave to your imagination to fill in.**

 **I own nothing of this.**


	24. Chapter 24

Eighteen Years Later:

"Harry, are you working today?" Ginevra Molly Potter asked her green-eyed husband.

"Yeah, I'm on duty in Azkaban, so I'll be back late." Harry informed his redhead wife.

"What's it like there?" Albus, Harry and Ginny's eldest, asked.

"It's a terrifying fortress of black stone and pure evil." Harry joked, earning him a stern glare from his wife. He cleared his throat. "At least it used to be, now it's just a run-down ruin. All the prisoners have been transferred to other places." He said quickly.

"So why are you there?" Albus asked. "Shouldn't you be out fight dark wizards?" He asked.

"Not today, today I'm making sure nobody tries to get into the place." Harry explained. "They might get hurt, it's pretty unstable and dangerous."

"Oh, okay." Albus said, slightly crestfallen. Clearly, he was hoping his father would be doing something more exciting.

Harry laughed and ruffled the child's hair.

"I'll be back late tonight, okay? So listen to your mother, you know how she gets!" The scarred man joked.

"Oi! I'm not that bad!" Ginny laughed, throwing a tea towel that was sitting on the dining table next to her at him.

Harry ran out of the house, chuckling to himself, he was probably going to pay for that later, he thought. It was worth it though, anything to see her smile.

* * *

At the end of the Second Wizarding War, Azkaban had been decommissioned. The dementors had been banished and the island was off limits to everyone, barring the highest ranks of the aurors.

It was mostly true.

The truth was Azkaban was still a prison, however it only held one inmate. Harry had to pull some strings within the Ministry to get stationed there today, but he desperately needed to speak to them.

His thoughts darkened as he absent-mindedly scratched the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, in his hand he held the parchment that Dumbledore had posthumously given to him.

* * *

Harry nodded to several other aurors as he headed inside Azkaban, he always hated the journey here, as he had to physically travel over the sea. Apparation and flying by broom were blocked by extremely powerful wards, and of course the fortress wasn't connected to the Flue Network.

As Harry walked along the dark, narrow corridors, he shuddered. Azkaban was as dark and foreboding as it had been during the time of the dementors, he wondered how any of the previous inmates had managed to keep even the slightest shred of self.

Eventually he was deep enough to enter a fairly recently constructed part of the prison, the rough, black stone eventually gave way to smooth bedrock. The path he was on burrowed deeper and deeper underground until he faced an immense door made of pure black metal. It made the vault doors of Gringotts look like flimsy plastic in comparison.

This is what he came for, why he rearranged so many peoples' scheduled assignments.

He placed a palm on the door and spoke his name.

"Harry James Potter." Harry said in a firm clear voice.

With a hiss of pressurised air, the great door to the only functioning prison cell swung open.

Inside was pitch black, Harry pulled out his wand.

"Lumos." The auror whispered.

The tip of his wand lit up, illuminating the tiny cell. Smooth featureless walls with no source of light and no amenities of any sort.

On the far wall, was a slim humanoid figure, shorter than Harry, but used to be slightly taller than him. It's arms and legs were spread-eagled and encased in ten centimetre thick metal tubes, moulded to exactly the shape of the limbs. Across the chest, four metal restraints, the same thickness as the tubes were hammered into the stone. Harry knew that the supports for these restraints went deep into the surrounding bedrock.

Finally, the head was held in place by a thick metal collar, again perfectly moulded to fit from the shoulders to the base of the head, restricting any movement and forcing the figure to look forwards at all times.

"I'm so sorry for how they've treated you." Harry said to the figure. "I never realised they would do all..." He gestured around the cell. "This."

He sighed.

"Please believe me, I'd tried to get them to grant you some small freedom. Maybe removed your bindings, but they refused to listen." Harry said. "They're extremely scared of you and what you can do."

"But now it's time to return to the surface." The auror said. "Time to finish what you came here to do, all those years ago."

With motions faster than most humans could manage, due to him continuing and refining the training he had done during his days at Hogwarts. As well as some magical assistance, he had reactions that were borderline preternatural. He pulled out the parchment he had been given by Fawkes.

"Despite us finding all seven Horcruxes that Dumbledore told us about..." Harry said grimly. "Voldemort is back."

From the figure's left eye, blue flames flooded the chamber.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Well I couldn't leave it like that, could I?**

 **This really is the end, hoped you all liked it.**

 **BRS Project and the Harry Potter franchise are not owned by me.**


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